Cast your vote for the Reef Builders Readers’ Choice Awards: Protein Skimmers
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We have brought you plentyof new and exciting products in the last year here at Reef Builders and we are proud to announce the first ever Reef Builders Readers Choice Awards. We value your insight and great comments that make this site hum like a well tuned skimmer and we want to hear from you. Now you have a voice with our end of the year awards and the chance to vote for the most innovative products worthy of our readers’ honors. Our criteria is simple for these awards: the product must have been available to hobbyists for purchase in 2009 and you all get to pick! Below is the first category of the new protein skimmers. Make your choice or choices below and at the end, we’ll tally the votes and present the winners in a later post. If we happened to miss one you think is worth of consideration, add it to the comments below and we’ll put it in for consideration. Also we’ll look into the comments to get YOUR perspective when we announce the winners, so make sure to let us know why you think these products rock!
The polls will be open until next week with more categories coming soon. The winners will be announced on Friday, January 8.
should the new deltec skimmers be on the list? technically they aren’t available in the united states yet.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I wouldn’t consider the Deltec TC/SC HOB or economy
December 30th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
@Scott. You’re right this is a typo (my fault) hang on while i fix it.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
RE Alphas grouped into one and 3 individual ATB”s. Hummm.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I agree with post by Kev. Why split on ATBs? RE Alpha 250 is the single best piece of equipment I have bought. Low watts, lots of air & it pulls tons of gunk.
December 31st, 2009 at 1:40 am
it should be “the best designed/performing skimmer” there wouldn’t be any votes for the alpha then. it has WAY too big of a neck to be a good performing skimmer. thats why the owners have to run it in such deep water to get anything out of it. this is what happens when you copy someone else’s design without doing any R&D for yourself. ATB found that the huge neck the alphas are using didn’t work years ago.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:49 am
Hi,
I’m the ATB dealer for the Benelux and France since some 4 years now… The only thing I want to add, is that the ATB quality is superb. As is the service. I’m still very happy and proud I have chosen for the ATB. Even after 4 years never had any regrets…
This is – for me – much more important than…
Have a happy new year !
Greetings,
Karl
December 31st, 2009 at 8:08 am
The RE Alpha is what it is… The need to run it in deeper water actually benefits me. I have no complaints about it.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:39 am
Ahhh the skimmer wars! People get real passionate about their skimmers;)
Really… why can’t people just say which one they like without having to say something negative about the other guy. Unless you have actually OWNED both models and ran them both on the same tank then you probably can’t provide enough valuable information to compare. I’m going to get an ATB skimmer this spring. Mostly because I want a cone and I want excellent customer service. Having said that, even though the alpha had a big neck and requires deeper than normal water it appears to work incredibly well from what I’ve seen. When I get the ATB I’m going to have to put it on a stand because it requires shallower water so is that really a plus?
December 31st, 2009 at 10:13 am
vertex in-100 baby!
December 31st, 2009 at 11:01 am
Yes, this is a big popularity contest and poll to see which one you purchased. Who ever has the chance to run these side by side to see which ones perform better than others.
I have a RE Alpha and like it. Does that mean it is better than the others?” I don/’t know.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:27 pm
That splitting of the ATB into multiple models vs. the RE alphas all under one really rigs the vote, eh? Perhaps all of the ATB’s should be added into one in the end.
FWIW, I cant believe people are voting much for the RE Alphas… they have had so many problems and cant skim worth a crap IMO… too large a pump, too large of a neck, too small of a body. Perhaps putting them under one category is the only way to give them a chance.
December 31st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Also, hey, where is that ATB HOB skimmer on the list?
December 31st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
@ Hahnmeister: Relax Jon! We will fairly report the results of the poll with and w/o the ATBs lumped together and the readers can make up their mind. Perhaps it will be fair to give the award to both lines if they are close in votes.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I’m actually surprised the ATB 840 didn’t make the cut. It seems to be one of the most popular. There are so many ATB’s now it may need to be lumped together.
December 31st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
it’s good info
January 7th, 2010 at 11:36 pm