AllenIsbell's Marine Aquarium Experience

[Cliff]

A combination drain and skimmer section may not work. The reason being is that you will get a lot of micro and large bubbles from the water draining into your sump. Those bubble would prevent the skimmer from working properly if they get sucked into the skimmer's intake. You can prevent that with filter socks on the drain line, but you might have to make the skimmer compartment a little larger.

I would suggest picking out a few skimmer that you would like to buy down the road then size that compartment to match (both lenght width, and hight). You would be better off leaving a little room for your skimmer compartment and taking some away from your refugium caompartment, at least IMO.

Would you have your main tank drilled, or use a syphone based drain ?

[AllenIsbell]

I'm not 100% set on that design, so if something is wrong with it, I surely will change it.

I have no idea where to even start looking when it comes to protein skimmers. I only have a general idea of what they do, and I'm constantly being told I should get one if I want my tank to be successful. I don't want one hanging on the back. That would look tacky in my opinion.

I will be drilling my tank as soon as I figure out the size of the hole I need to make, and where I need to make said holes.

[AllenIsbell]

I actually made a separate thread about this to target the most help.

[Cliff]

I would suggest sticking with a mid quality skimmer like: AquaC, Vertex, Skimz, or Bubble Magnis. I have used the first three lsited there and found them to work very very well. I would suggest to go with one rate for around twice your total water volume (tank plus sump).

Once you have a skimmer picked out, you will know the max flow it requires for optimal skimming. Base your flow through your sump on that. That fow will determing your return pump size, GHP, and pipe size (both drain and return). I know this may sound vert technical right now, but trust me it is not. Once you have set one up, you will know what I mean.

After all, I can set one up and I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed

[AllenIsbell]

Gotcha. That helps, a lot.

You definitely are one of the sharper ones, though!

[AllenIsbell]

I am supposed to be doing some trading for one of these Saturday:

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaC_Rem...PSHOSI-vi.html

[Cliff]

That's a very good quality HOB skimmer. I'm using one right now on a 40 gallon QT set-up.

Are you still planning a sump tho ???

[AllenIsbell]

In the long run, yes.

I was thinking about running this skimmer on the side of the sump. That would give me more room in the sump for live rock, etc...

[Cliff]

You can do that

You would need at least one compartment the will allow of water to be full right to the top of the sump (or the skimmer to work properly), and others would have to considerbly lower lower to allow for drain back into the sump should your return pump stop working or you have a power failure. That will make more noise in the sump due to the water falling (instead of just flowwing) from one compartment into the the next.

[AllenIsbell]

Gotcha.

I sketched this real fast. Not drawn to scale, and none of the areas sizes have been figured.

Am I on the right track?