Best protein skimmer

Looking for the best protein skimmer reviews? That’s the goal for this article, so read on.

As technology has evolved, it has become easier to maintain ideal conditions for our reef tanks, but our equipment options have multiplied too.

Having choices, as a consumer is usually a good thing. But when it comes to the reef aquarium hobby, there are so many brands and so many options that choices can sometimes be overwhelming for the newcomer to the hobby.

Whether you are in the market for your first protein skimmer or are looking to upgrade your existing protein skimmer, this article should help you sort through all the options and help you find the best protein skimmer brands for your reef aquarium.

But first, let’s cover some of the basics

What is a protein skimmer?

A protein skimmer is a piece of equipment (a device) that purifies your reef aquarium water. Just think of it as a somewhat fancy filtration apparatus. Protein skimmers work by a process called foam fractionation, which is a fancy way of saying they create scrubbing bubbles.

Think about that cleaning product with the same tagline…only…without the chemicals.

The gunk in your aquarium water gets stuck on the bubbles and gets carried up into the collection container, which you will need to dump out and keep clean.

A protein skimmer is an amazing tool that combines thermodynamics and engineering. Much of the organic gunk that is suspended in the water column doesn’t like to be in the water (thermodynamically speaking). Did I just type “thermodynamically speaking”? What does that even mean?

Oh, here– Gunk would rather be close to the surface of the water. Bubbles, by comparison to regular old water, have a whole lot of surface and not a lot of water, so given the option, the gunk in your water will ‘stick’ (thermodynamically speaking again) to the bubbles rather than hang out in the water.

Then, the design of the protein skimmer draws the bubbles and the gunk with it up and out of the water and into the collection cup, where the gunk is removed. The best protein skimmer brands, therefore, are the brands that easily and reliably remove that gunk from your reef tank.

 

 

Does every reef aquarium have to have a protein skimmer?

No, you don’t always need a protein skimmer, but they are good to have, as a general rule. Just take one look at the brown, smelly, nasty gunk they remove and you’ll be convinced they do a lot of good.

How to pick the right protein skimmer

Size rating

One of the most important factors when determining the best protein skimmer to brand to select is the size rating for the skimmer. Every skimmer is rated for a certain size tank, based on the amount of skimmate they can remove from the water, factoring in design, pump size, etc.

If you buy a protein skimmer that is under-sized for your aquarium, you run the risk of always struggling to keep nutrient levels down. Take into account that the marketing messages for these skimmers tend to accentuate the positive, and consider purchasing a skimmer that is rated a little bit higher than the size of your tank–or a model where your tank is in the middle of the range.

Reviews

These days (in 2017), I tend to use articles (like this) and the wisdom of the crowd, captured as best protein skimmer reviews on trusted websites to help me narrow the field of endless options.

More often than not, it seems that the crowd tends to get things right. Look for protein skimmers with the highest ratings. In researching this article, all the reviews were already sorted through, so you don’t have to (although don’t have to take my word for it and are welcome to do your own follow-up, of course. I won’t tell anyone).

Price

In 2019, there are still a lot of skimmer options–you could probably spend almost as much money as you wanted on a protein skimmer–so ask yourself–how much money do you want to spend…then do some research to try and find the ‘best’ skimmer for the money.

Design

Every manufacturer seems to boast that their skimmers are high efficiency, make tons of tiny bubbles and remove lots of waste. But there are a few different ways the protein skimmers get their results:

Air or airstone-driven–these are some of the weaker (and less expensive) models, simply because the air pumps are usually loud and not that efficient and airstones make relatively large bubbles. Since

protein skimmer efficiency is generally driven by the creation of large numbers of small bubbles…well…this is not so good…but it is better than nothing.

So if you have one of these models, make the best of it. These are also sometimes called counter-current skimmers. Bubbles float up, pumping water down against the flow of the bubbles improves the efficiency a bit–this is how these skimmers work.

There are DIY skimmer designs that employ this method. Since this is a fairly basic design, counter-current airstone driven models are sometimes described in DIY plans.

Venturi-driven–a venturi is a valve that is designed to suck air in. Venturi-driven protein skimmer models tend to be paired up with powerful pumps to create the air bubbles and drive the performance of the skimmer.

Impeller skimmers–With this design for a protein skimmer, bubbles are pumped through a needle wheel or pinwheel impellers (think about the propeller on a plane) where the bubbles are sliced up into even smaller bubbles, which improves the efficiency of the skimmer. The impeller driven models are often paired with another feature, like a venturi design.

Where you install it

The next design feature that matters is to figure out where you are going to install it. The three basic options are:

1. In sump design. This, of course, will only work for your saltwater tank if you have a sump.
2. HOB design, which stands for “hang on back”. This design works whether or not you have a sump and
3. External or recirculating skimmers–these are skimmers which are external to the pump and don’t hang on the tank. A pump pulls the water out of the tank, to your skimmer and returns it.

Size

An often overlooked (and by often, I mean I did it once so I’m suggesting that this is overlooked all the time, so I don’t feel as dumb) but extremely important aspect of selecting the best protein skimmer brands is to consider exactly how big the skimmer is. Since bubbles float up, most protein skimmers have their collection cup at the very top of the apparatus.

You could purchase the most efficient protein skimmer in the world, but if you install it in your sump, under the tank and don’t have enough room to get the collection cup off…well…then you’re in for a long ride. Make sure to check the size specifications as well as the minimum clearance needed. Then measure it again. Then check again.

Ok, I’m overcompensating for something here…but I messed that up before…can you tell?

Aquarium protein skimmer manufacturers

In 2018, there are a lot of aquarium protein skimmer manufacturers. This article will review some of the most popular models from the following aquarium protein skimmer manufacturers:

• Seaclone
• Coralife
• Vertex
• Aquamaxx
• Tunze
• Bubble Magus
• Reef Octopus

Best protein skimmer reviews

The first category in the best protein skimmer reviews section is the pick for the best small & HOB protein skimmer.

Best small & HOB skimmer

What is a small protein skimmer?

For all intents and purposes, a nano protein skimmer is just a small protein skimmer, in the same way, that a nano reef tank is just a small reef tank. This is a skimmer that has a smaller profile, small pump and is sized for a smaller tank.

What is a HOB Protein Skimmer?

HOB stands for Hang on Back. But what does THAT mean?

Most hobbyists prefer to install their protein skimmer out of sight, below the tank, in the sump area. The HOB Protein skimmer is a great design option if you don’t have an aquarium sump. Designed to hang on the back of your aquarium, the HOB Protein skimmer is a great option–and is the style of skimmer I first installed on my display tank.

If you are in the market for a small protein skimmer, my recommendation would be the AquaMaxx HOB 1.

AquaMaxx HOB 1

The AquaMaxx HOB 1 protein skimmer is a hang-on-back model that is rated for up to 75 gallons but is light enough to fit on tanks smaller than that.

The one disadvantage to the AquaMaxx, in terms of use for a nano tank, is its size. 7.5 in. long x 3.5 in. wide x 17 in. tall, this skimmer will look pretty large on some of the smaller nano tanks.

Despite the large size, however, this AquaMaxx HOB 1 protein skimmer will work (and fits nicely with) the JBJ 28 gallon nano reef tank.

How does it work?

The AquaMaxx HOB 1 is paired with a Sicce Syncra 1.0 pump, which blasts water through a needle wheel impeller. The pump and impeller action is what creates the bubbles that ultimately remove the waste from your reef aquarium. The Sicce Syncra 1.0 pump is rated for 252 Gallons Per Hour (GPH) flow rate and runs on 16 watts.

Best all around protein skimmer brand is the Reef Octopus Skimmer

Why I love the Reef Octopus Skimmer

• The shape of this skimmer (half-cone) lends to improved foam collection.
• It features a pinwheel impeller and a Hailea OTP pump with a venturi air injector.
• While other protein skimmers for saltwater aquariums (like the Coralife Super Skimmer) have a cheap, loose knob that regulates the water height within the body of the device, the Reef Octopus Skimmer has a substantial, signature gate valve to allow precise control of the water level. Based on my experiences with the Coralife protein skimmer, this seems like a well-designed feature.
• The reviews for this product are consistently 4-5 out of 5 stars. A Reef Octopus protein skimmer will run you ~$200-$800.

Honorable mention:

Bubble Magus Protein Skimmer

Bubble Magus is a popular skimmer brand, and is certainly one of the best protein skimmer brands, with 4.5/5 stars on one of the major online retailer websites. The design is a venturi-pump with a needle wheel impeller. The cost is about $200 for the Bubble Magus Curve 5 model rated up to 180 gallons and is 7.3 inches by 7.1 inches by 18.5 inches, paired with an 8-watt pump.

Protein Skimmers I do not recommend

Recommending which protein skimmer to avoid is probably as important, if not more important than recommending the best protein skimmer brands. Starting things off, here, I’d like to introduce you to two brands that I highly recommend you avoid.

This is an expensive hobby. In general, I am in favor of taking steps to reduce or contain costs. I’m personally not the type of person who always needs the best or highest end equipment. I’m a do-it-yourselfer at heart, although I find myself with much less time to DIY than I used to have.

And I like getting value for my hard-earned money. The two brands below are inexpensive, which is great if they make the hobby more approachable for some people, but I don’t feel that they represent a good value for the money–and as such, I would advise you to keep on reading to learn more about the later brands, if you can afford to spend just a little bit more.

By the way, I don’t have images of all of these products, some of these images are available to me as an affiliate for Amazon.com and they have affiliate links.

What that means is that if you click on the images or the product links below, they will take you to Amazon’s website, where they hope you will buy something. If you do, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I don’t want to make a big deal about it, I also don’t want you to feel any pressure at all, but I did want to disclose that.

SeaClone

SeaClone is the first protein skimmer for many reef aquarium enthusiasts, probably because if the affordable price and the fact that it is a brand that is available even in the larger national pet store chains. The problem is that this skimmer doesn’t have a reputation for being all that efficient and can, therefore, be quickly outgrown.

SeaClone features a turbo-venturi injection system. The $90 unit is paired with a Maxi-Jet 1200 pump rated for tanks up to 100 gallons.

I suppose it will help out a little bit, but it is not one of the preferred or recommended brands.

Coralife Protein Skimmer: Super Skimmer Needle Wheel

The price, for the Coralife protein skimmer, seems too good to be true. In my personal experience with this product, it has been too good to be true.

I purchased the Coralife protein skimmer twice because it was on sale–once for my fish room–and once for my display tank. Both times, the self-proclaimed “super skimmer” stopped working way before I thought it should have. The 220-gallon unit costs less than $200 (and is even cheaper if you catch it on sale) but in this case, you get what you pay for.

There is a flimsy knob that helps you control the height of the water inside the skimmer. A very tiny tweak and the skimmer level goes from too low to overflowing and making a complete mess.

Coralife protein skimmer, sorry to rip on you, but I got a dud twice in a row and won’t try this brand again.

In all fairness, this skimmer can’t be all that terrible, because it gets 3.5-3.8/5.0 stars on various websites, but I wanted to share my own experiences and product review with you here.

Not a big fan of this model.

Ready to buy?

Shope for a few of the bestselling protein skimmers here:

Written by Albert B. Ulrich III

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