AquaC EV-120 Protein Skimmer

OMG well worth the money have did it for over a year and I would not trade it for anything else. My tank has never looked better

Easy to install and make adjustments. Working great.

Unlike my review of the AquaC Remora this series skimmer is still relevant in 2014. The E series skimmers are big, bulky nearly bulletproof units that well produce great skim if they are paired with the correct pump. That is the critical link tho.I ran this unit for a few years with a Rio 2100 (as recommended) which was rated at a flow of 692mph and it was set up at one got head. The other pump these come with is a Mag 5 which has a flow rate of 500mph. It's my personal opinion that both of these recommended pumps are still underpowered for the EV120. I base that off the fact that we run these skimmers (180/240 models) at the shop on big systems but with higher flow pumps and they work great.I was ready to upgrade the pump again...had originally ran the Mag 5, then to the Rio 2100...but yet another $75 pump upgrade with no guarantee made me gun shy despite knowing how great these skimmers work when paired with a good, high flow pump. I decided to try the new AquaMaxx C01 cone model instead...as long as I was gambling and so far it's working better. I still think the EV120 is probably a superior skimmer to nearly every cone skimmer currently on the market, but I suspect it really had to be paired with the Rio 3100 or Mag 9.5 to shine...which will mean throttling back a bit, more watts and more heat.The EV is easy to clean on a weekly basis, but if you have to pull the entire unit out for a deeper cleaning its a bear due to its sheet size. It does work nicely as an external unit option...again if you don't have the in sump space but have it externally next to our behind tank then it can be configured to run with just the pump in the sump...again, you need to run a higher flow than AquaC recommend to compensate for head.I'm holding on to my unit because it still has value if I can pick up the bigger pump used one day. Just sucks that I've had to chase down the right pump since its so expensive to begin with. It does work nicely tho when it's right...I can't say that enough.