sump plumbing...again...

[nisom88]

i know this gets brought up over and over, but i'm laying out a sump for a 100g plexi tank that i hope to have filled in the next month or so and i was hoping to get some feedback from people actually using different setups.

i'm using a 20g plexi tank as a sump and was hoping to run an external skimmer. i was also hoping to run one in line pump for both the skimmer and the return line...

when i started laying it out physically, i thought it might be safer to run the skimmer inside the sump...then i thought, why not just use a big submersible pump for the skimmer instead of running it off the return pump...

i guess an in-sump skimmer would be safer, but sump water level would have to be a constant for best performance. what do most people run?

in sump skimmer on a separate pump OR external skimmer on an in-line pump that also runs the return?

by the way, I've got an ETSS skimmer that can be both inline and insump

pros and cons?

[Jimbo]

I run my skimmer on the outside of my sump, for the very reason you mentioned, sump level drops. But if you have an automatic top off, just stick in the sump cleaner design that way. Or you could partition part of the 20g where water enters then flows down to the return. The partioned part will always have a constant level. Are you going to have a refugium? Maybe bigger sump with 3 partitions in it. One for refugium large area, overflows to partition containing the skimmer and pump, then to the return area. In my return I put a bunch of LR for a dark refugium. Lots of tube worms and sponges inhabit this area.

Personally I just used two 10g rubbermaids, one for the lighted refugium and one for the sump. I pump water to the skimmer from the sump and it dumps its output into the refugium which flows back into the sump via bulkhead pipe and connector. I have a 6" sand/mud bed in the refugium, I buried the mud under the sand so it does not get too stirred up. I put several pounds of LR in the sump itself. But this makes water levels go down quicker. But soon will have an autotop off system, so that won't be a concern.

Hope this helps
~Jimbo

[big t]

For simplicity's sake, I would just run the skimmer in the sump, and use separate pumps for the skimmer and return. I suppose that if you want to get tricky w/ the plumbing you could tee off your return to ur skimmer, but I think that it would be easier to use a separate pump, and this is definately how most people do it. Also on the subject of sump level, it is good to have some sort of auto top off to maintain your salinity at a constant level anyway. It could be as simple as a 2.5 gallon water jug upside down, w/ the opening at you desired water level. When the water drops air goes into the jug and water comes out till the water gets back up the the opening. Anyway it works for me.
Good luck whatever u do.
later,
tom

[Jimbo]

Hey tom do you have a pic of your top off system or could you draw a picture of how it works. I think I get the picture, do you just stick the jug in the sump or do you pipe it in somehow. Any alternatives to this simple design, would like to use a 3-5 gallon bucket or jug, but won't fit above the sump and stand.

~Jimbo

[big t]

Well I can't post a pic at the moment cauze I am 1500 miles away from my reef. But If you could not fit that size container underneath the sump, I think that it would work the same way if u used a hose of like 3/4" dia and ran if from a remote location above ur sump going to the bottom of the container, keep in mind that the container would have to be sealed for this to work. The run the hose down so the the mouth of the hose stops perpindicular to where you want your water level to be. Then it is just like the upside down culligan water dispensers. When the water goes below the bottom of the jug, or hose in you case, air can get in there then the water can flow out. When the water rises up to the lip, no more air can go up the hose to the container and since the container is sealed it has a vacuum and will not let any more water out, make sense? If not just trust me, it works, and Maybe tomorrow I can post a pic when I get home.
hope that helps,
tom

[nisom88]

i guess it would be much simpler to run an in-sump skimmer on a separate pump, probably cheaper to. i would need an awfully powerful pump to run a return at around 500gph and run a skimmer at at least 500gph with the amount of head involved and backpressure and what not.

i just thought one external pump running both would be trick

anybody run this setup out there...let's get both sides

[Doug1]

I run a Mag 18 @ about 4' of head pressure and I am not sure that it would run bothethe return and skimmer to my satisfaction. Using seperate pumps creates more maint issues but if one pump croaks you dont have system failure , FWIW

[Jimbo]

I run my skimmer and return off the same pump, put in a tee with control valve. Just a Reo 2700, so i get about 200gph through the skimmer and the rest goes to the tank probally about 300-400gph to the tank. I could get a bigger pump in the future would like to replace the Reo with a Magdrive unit. My intank overflow probally can't handle much more than 500-700gph. Of course I could add another siphon tube to the intank overflow Anyway my skimmer is running as fast as it can. have two maxijet 900 in the tank. Since my skimmer dumps into the refugium I'm getting 200gph through the refugium. A while back we did a survey and it appeared that people with 200+ gph through the refugium had better algea control.

When you run your skimmer off the same pump the sump level makes some difference in the pressure of water flowing out of the pump, this also adds agitation to the water making the skimmer less efficient. So if I buy another pump will probally just run the skimmer off of one pump.

~Jimbo