Skimmer Placement

[Jivatma]

DIYing my first 40b with a baffle kit. Kit has option to run filter socks, but I am also wanting the possibility of a fuge, maybe. Also, if tank makes it to a mature age, I'd like a mandarin (and copepod population ofc), so my question is as follows...

Is there any specifics of skimmer placement? So far pretty standard layouts seem to be intake/socks -> skimmer/fuge -> return. Obviously bigger systems have more room to play, but my baffle kit has 3 basic sections. Could I place my skimmer in the intake section, before my socks? Or would that be inefficient for one or the other?

 

[SchrutesReefs]

I’ve always had mine just after the intake. You want to the water to have time to disperse the bubbles from the skimmer before it hits the return. I’d think you could place it wherever you wanted and just play around with the placement to your liking.

 

[Jivatma]

I’ve always had mine just after the intake. You want to the water to have time to disperse the bubbles from the skimmer before it hits the return. I’d think you could place it wherever you wanted and just play around with the placement to your liking.

My idea would be about as far from the return as I could get! Lol. I just mean it as far as performance question really. Would running the skimmer pre-socks be too hard on the skimmer, since socks wouldn't filter first? Or rather, would the skimmer make socks less effective in this 'order of operations?'

Also as an addition to the original post, does any specific layout harm/hurt a copepod population? Ideally, I'd like a self-sustaining colony, but I have to do more research.

 

[PeterC99]

Recommend section for the Refugium with chaeto. Great place to grow pods. Ideally would come after skimmer but I have mine in the same chamber as skimmer.

 

[Waters]

You can put it wherever you want as long as the water level remains constant and you have some flow moving through that section.