External Skimmer Feed

[thewbell]

I picked up a RO Diablo 200ext skimmer (Varios6 pinwheel pump) a few months ago and have been feeding it from a manifold on my return but I will be adding a 40B to my current setup and I will need the manifold ports to plumb the additional tank. I have done a good bit of research on external skimmer feeding methods and it seems that the 2 favorite are either a dedicated pump or direct from the drain. I had looked into feeding the drain from my 120 directly in the skimmer but I think this may be too much flow but I will also be doing a bean animal overflow on the 40b and it will be fed with 2 1/2" lines from my manifold. This leaves me with options to either run my 40b siphon drain direct to the skimmer or to purchase a 500-700 gph pump to feed the skimmer from my pump.

Does anyone see any potential issues with feeding the skimmer from the siphon overflow on my 40b? The advantage would be no extra pumps or heat input. However, I would only be skimming water that passed through the 40b instead of sucking water from the common drain compartment of the sump.

Any thoughts on which would be the best setup?

 

[welsher7]

I think feeding directly from the overflow is the best way, but you have to be careful that you overflow doesn't bring down large bubbles that could collapse your foam head in your skimmer. You could use a "Y" fitting with a ball valve off of your main overflow to control the flow in to the skimmer.

 

[thewbell]

Would there be any disadvantage to running it off of the 40 gallon tank and not the 120 drain? I would think it would be no different than a manifold feed.

 

[welsher7]

I don't think there would be any difference just make sure you are pushing the right amount of water through the skimmer. The manufacturer should have suggested gph for feed.