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2K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  crvz 
#1 ·
Hi there everyone, been watching for a while but think it's time to ask for help. I need a skimmer for my 60 gallon. what I have: overflow box into a home built sump kinda small about 10x20 holds about 7gallons. sump divided in half with return water going thru filter pad then drip plate, eihime 600gph pump in sump. 57pounds LR. I cant fit a skimmer in sump but don"t want a hang on. can i drill into side of sump and install a fitting near the bottom for skimmer. what brands should i look at for soft corals and fish. sorry so long.
 
#2 ·
Welcome to TRT!!

There are quite a few options of which brands to look at. I'm a fan of the "needlewheel" designed skimmers, but unfortunately don't have any experience with running them externally. I know it can be done, though. From cheapest to spendiest, I'd probably look at the Octopus, ASM, EuroReef, and ATI brands. On that sized tank, you don't need a huge skimmer, but expect to pay anywhere from $250 - $500 for something that's going to really perform well.
 
#3 ·
Welcome to TRT! fellow Jerseyman(never herd of skillman?is that s.jersey?)I'm in Mountainside Union Co.(N.central).
The water you want to pull from the tank is better from as high you can get in the surface,where the most of the protein needs to be skimmed.
 
#6 ·
The skimmer will help with the buildup of nitrates, but not the nitrates you already have in the tank. You have to be careful about overfeeding your fish and be more consistent with water changes. For a tank that size, you have a lot of live rock, that can block the flow of water and allow detritus to build up. Once a week, you should probably take a powerhead and "blow" the detritus off the rocks and allow a filter to clean it out. You should clean the filter after that, and once a week as well, to keep the nitrates down. Also, you may want to check your fresh water source and make sure it is not high in nitrates (one reason to use only ro/di water). You can run skimmers externally, they are usually the recirc models and cost abit more than the regular in sump ones. Like Chris said, I'd recommend the octopus brands as the best value first. For now, though, you should probably do some weekly water changes to get rid of the nitrates that you currently have.
 
#7 ·
I have yet to clean the filter. should I be washing it out on weekly basis. My thought was that leaving it along would alow biological organisms to grow and help filter the water. (Had a freshwater tank for many years) I'm thinking this is wrong!
 
#9 ·
if you remove all of the filtering media will you have enough room for a skimmer in the sump? you do not need any of that filtering media. the only filtration most of us run is the skimmer and the LR. the rest can actually degrade your water quality. this is quite a bit different than they way you think in FW.

SW is a totally different animal. :D

G~
 
#10 ·
My tanks under cabinet is divied in into 2 sections on the left side is the sump and return pump on the right is my MH ballasts mounted up and to the right so I have pleanty of room for a skimmer in there I would just have to cut a hole through the cabinet and tap into the sump with a cross over pipe. Is this rite should their be some kind of baffle around the pick up point for the skimmer? Would I be returning the water back to the sump?
 
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