question about old E.T.S.S 1400 skimmer

MOREEFIN88 · Dec 9, 2017

hi all, i bought a Big reef set up a while back that was a smidge to big for my rental house;Facepalm lol. anyhow I'm building a 120 mixed reef setup now and have a huge skimmer that i need to plumb i plan on using a MD-100RLT on the skimmer not sure if it will be powerful enough to circulate the tank as well, i mite need a dedicated pump for that any thoughts and opinions are welcome. the skimmer also has a drilled pvc tube that is plumbed in from the side of the bottom box about 3/4 the way up the bottom box and and goes just above the bottem of the collection cup. i haven't been able to find anything on this has anyone seen this drilled pvc tube before? if anyone has a pdf of the manule for the etss 1400 that would be awsome if they could pass that on.

mcarroll · Dec 10, 2017

The small white PVC was built as an ozone injector. It will accumulate sludge (inside and out) under normal operation, so unless you plan to use ozone, I would remove it and put a simple plug over the opening in the box. (You may not be able to remove it in re-usable condition – I'm not sure if it's glued or dry-fit.)

mcarroll · Dec 10, 2017

For a fairly small tank like a 120 Gallon you might actually be able to divide the output of the MD100 for a decent 2x-4x flow rate for the display return without impacting the skimmer too much.

Ideally I'd just buy a small, right-sized, AC-powered submersible pump for the return.

MOREEFIN88 · Dec 10, 2017

mcarroll said:
The small white PVC was built as an ozone injector. It will accumulate sludge (inside and out) under normal operation, so unless you plan to use ozone, I would remove it and put a simple plug over the opening in the box. (You may not be able to remove it in re-usable condition – I'm not sure if it's glued or dry-fit.)[/QUOTE

thanks mcarroll it makes sense now, i think im going to hold off on using ozone for now and just remove the pvc pipe for the time being. luckly it wasn't pvc cemented in place so easy fix.

Feet4Fish · Dec 10, 2017

Agree with mcarroll. Dedicate the iwaki to the skimmer and buy a dedicated return pump. I have the same skimmer. It is a powerhouse beast but needs a dedicated 70 or 100 rlt.

MOREEFIN88 · Dec 10, 2017

hi soffut, I've seen some people say that dc pumps are bad with head pressure, so go with an ac pump for the return pump if plumbing to the basement witch i am. I was thinking about maybe using a jebao dc-9000 pump for the skimmer. jebao says its good to 5m of head pressure and flows 2,377 gph just not sure if there will be any back pressure issues.. and using the 100rlt for the dedicated return pump.

mcarroll · Dec 11, 2017

@MOREEFIN88 Leaving truth and optimism out of it for the moment

, they don't say it's good to 5M, they say that's the shutoff height.

Basement sump is a tough app. Exactly how high from the sump to the top of the tank? Getting the sump up off the basement floor a few feet is often very helpful, if possible.