Alpha Cone 250 too Much for 180 gal?

[njreefermadness]

I have been battling skimmer performance issues for years. I have to constantly play with water levels, etc. to keep this thing producing decent foam. The skimmer is a first gen Alpha Cone 250 without the adjustable nozzle, though after the pump died a few years ago, I now have the adjustable nozzle.

Skimmate rarely overflows into the cup, and I usually end up with a thick, dense coating in the neck of the skimmer.

I am coming to the realization that this skimmer is oversized for my system. My tank is a 180 gallon with a 45 breeder sump. I have a ton of rock, and large sps colonies.

Fish load

1 large Emperor angel
1 med Majestic angel
1 lemon peel angel
1 flame angel
1 African flameback angel
1 Singapore angel
2 pyramid butterflies
1 small sargassum trigger
1 solar wrasse
1 cleaner wrasse
1 yellow fin flasher wrasse
1 green chromosome
3 Bangai cardinals
1 two spot tang like a kole

Based on this load, is my skimmer oversized?

What BK skimmer would you consider the ideal skimmer for this configuration?

Thanks.

Herb

[slief]

I wouldn’t recommend that skimmer for your system. It’s way too large of a skimmer in my experience. Especially with the Alpha’s. I’ve owned one and helped countless others here with them over the years. They were/are very under rated and required an extremely heavy load to be consistent. It likely will not be consistent and you will have to run it very wet and deal with occasional overflows and tuning issue. For that system, a Double Cone 200 would be about perfect and would be MUCH easier to tune. Heck, you would get away with a Double Cone 180 for that matter but the 200 could handle a heavier load should you decide to add more fish down the line.

[njreefermadness]

Thanks for the suggestion. Too bad I missed the Black Friday sales!

Herb