Advice? Skimmer suggestions

Reef octopus skimmers are hard to beat. They work great at a decent price. I don't know what all models they have anymore, but they'll have something that will fit your tank, and the space in the sump.

 

I've read that you can oversize a skimmer too much and this is not good, I think it was either @Nik or @Armydog that I was talking with about this. It has to do with not only the tank size but the bioload. IMO the whole skimmer sizing thing is out of whack with tank size because those don't necessarily correlate to bioload and thus skimmer size.

So if you have a 300g tank but only 6 fish and they are medium size, that might not necessitate a skimmer sized for a 300g tank. Maybe only a 150 size.

Then, if you have a 100g tank with 40 fish, that might actually necessitate a skimmer that is sized for a 200g tank.

I personally undersize the skimmer and use co-filtration. Of course I'm going to side with the Algae Scrubber. On 2 of my tanks (mine and one at an office) I don't use a skimmer at all, haven't for years, just a scrubber and not a huge one either. I think that the skimmer was the "most important" piece of equipment for a long time because there wasn't much else that was as effective as it. That is not the case anymore so a paradigm shift is happening. There are still plenty of "my skimmer is bigger than yours" threads so it's still a hot issue.

IMO though if you undersize a skimmer, you're saving money that you can put towards other filtration, and diversity is important. Myself, I am adding in an Avast Marine Spyglass reactor with Purigen to one of my tanks. I've always been a Purigen fan but was never able to run it the way I wanted to. That's about to change!!

I run a RO-150 on a 200g tank along with an L4 scrubber and filter sock, plus carbon but that isn't changed out very often so I don't really count that. Skimmer produces great. Tank bioload is probably medium, it's the one at Taki in Urbandale and has a 9"+ Vlamingi Tang as well as a 6" Blue Hippo, 5" Yellow, and a few other medium fish plus a handful of smaller ones, and some nice coral

 

For clarification on my position, I would start with a skimmer that is rated for a tank 3/4 the size "they" say you need, and sell it an upgrade if you think it's not enough. It's likely that you will be just fine with a smaller skimmer, and if you aren't, it's a heck of a lot easier to sell a smaller used skimmer than it is to buy a super huge skimmer. You are out less $ based on a % loss on new vs used for a smaller skimmer, and if you are good with the smaller skimmer, then you saved $. Then get another piece of decent filtration and come at the bioload from 2 angles. Better for reliability

Of course... just my opinion