What would you pay for a cone skimmer?

This one caught my eye.

The MSX cones are the bomb! When things get going for me so I can set up my new tank I will be looking into a cone skimmer. Here is a good link about the MSX cones:

That new vertex/RE cone is really sweet, a deal considering they charge $850 for just the red dragon 1500 pump, an extra $149 and you get a nice skimmer.

The KZ revs used to be good skimmers, but honestly its a becket in a cone and are WAY overpriced IMO, but making molds etc takes a good chunk of change.

I've always got way too many ideas in my head and have looked into making a very capable cone skimmer in the $500-750 range. 
The pumps alone 2 sicces ($250) or askoll ($200+) is a big expense then you have to modify them from there.  The cone body depending on the size can be custom bent or seamless but will run around $200 as well.  Thats just for two components, bubbleplates, plumbing, neck and cup all add up. 
I can understand why the US made skimmers are more, looking at the price of some of the older octo's you can't even buy the acrylic to make it for what they're selling it for.

I received myI-Tech skimmer 2 day's ago,   I got their medium(Model 200) and installed the ATB pinwheel impeller. ATB on right, original impeller on left. This is two hours after installing it. *Note bubble size This is 24 Hours later, skimming wet here but backed off as it continued breaking in.  * Much smaller bubble size. 

Edited by bimmerzs - March 27 2009 at 4:15am

Is this the one?? Look at that BEAST!

Edited by tazman1982 - March 27 2009 at 12:22pm

dew2loud1 wrote: taz, Thats the ATB XXL, two laguna 4200 pumps, Retail on that sucker is $5500, pretty sweet.  Thats essentially what I'm building for our big tank, A long cone transition attached to about two feet of 24" acrylic tube.  It will sort of be like a giant version of the hurricone or the bubbleking supermarin. The skimmers I would build would be nearly the same as the ATB large, with a 13" cone base. For reference the small skimmer in that picture is still bigger than the I-tech 100 and the 200 i believe.

Well...If you talked to John then you realize he doesn't rate his skimmers by gallons, he recommend's a specific skimmer based on tank and bio-load.  I believe he reluctantly gave the model numbers based loosely on gallonage for the whiners that just couldn't get over the fact that you can't choose a skimmer strictly based on how many gallon's it is and discounting what's in that xxx gallon's.   The ATB impeller is the purple one, I don't buy into the more air is better idea.  A skimmers performance is based on the proper mix of air and water in a specific volume(neck size also) to get the smallest bubble size possible in order to maximize contact size.  You also want to cut down turbulence in the body also to make the skimmer as efficient as possible in removing the "poo".....sometimes less is more. 

Edited by bimmerzs - March 28 2009 at 2:42am