Skimmer / Powerhead question

CSchill · May 20, 2015

I used to have a 55 gallon reef tank when I lived in Michigan, and had to get rid of it when I made the trek across the country to California. I couldn't not have a tank, so I purchased a little 12 gallon JBJ nano for my apartment and it has been great so far.

The great thing is I finally moved into a house and found a 65 gallon tank, t-5 lighting, and a power head. That was the sign I needed to start up a bigger tank haha. I plan on keeping mainly softies and LPS in the tank with a handful of fish. But I had a few questions about some things....

I've been on the fence about getting either 2 mp10s or a maxspect gyre 150/130. I'm leaning towards the gyre based on how awesome the flow is but I hear so much banter back and fourth for either side of the argument. Like the gyre having a bad controller and so on. I was curious to what you guys thought. My tank is a 65 tall (I think). 48"l x 12"d x 24"t.

Also I got the sump all set up and running but now need to get a skimmer in there. I kinda jumped the gun and put live sand in the 2nd chamber already.. My question is can I build a little stand and put it in the 2nd chamber with the sand and sit the skimmer on top of that in the same chamber? Or will the sand cause problems with the skimmer..

I was thinking about getting the reef octopus 110sss or 150sss. From what I've read, they seem to be a good quality skimmer. If I'm wrong please correct me and point me in the right direction. hah

Thanks for all the help!!

BTW the tank has been running for about 3-4 weeks. I used the Prodibio Start Up during the cycling of the tank and used some sand and rock from my little nano to give it a jump start. It seemed to work great! There is currently a matched pair of clowns a skunk cleaner shrimp and a clean up crew in there, all happily enjoying for about 8-10 days now.

tigerdragon · May 20, 2015

Skimmer really should go into first section of sump. Try looking at thr vertex omega 150 skimmer once broke in thing is a beast and quiet. Mp10's are nice if you have the cash the xf150/130 is also nice i have the 150 in my 90, jebao rw8's or the 15's are another nice choice fishstreet has a pkg deal on the rw15's two for $150

CSchill · May 20, 2015

This is how it's currently set up. The blue sponge is out now, just had it in there to catch some of the original floaties from the sand. How would I go about putting the skimmer in the first chamber will the socks and all of that in there. Or do you recommend me pulling that stuff out?

tigerdragon · May 20, 2015

Ahh now i understand you are running a proflex sump. That does make it a challenge because skimmers req a constant water level. Could put a seperator in last section so that a constant water can be maintained for the simmer or go to recirculating skimmer that doesnt req a constant water level and put the feed pump in the first section

CSchill · May 20, 2015

The second chamber does keep a steady water level. Would I be able to place it ther?e or would that cause problems with the sand down there?

tigerdragon · May 20, 2015

You really dont want to take chance on skimmer sucking sand up into the pump could chew up mag and impeller

CSchill · May 20, 2015

Hmmmmm would you recommend just removing the sand then and running the skimmer with a few live rock pieces instead?

tigerdragon · May 20, 2015

I have a 90 that is softie/lps and i am using the proflex 4 on it i put skimmer on stand in second chamber and in third chamber i put some rock and chaeto. I used to run sand in sump for fuge but i found that to be nothing but pita. Now i just do chaeto and use a rector for carbon and gfo much easier and cleaner for me. Hope this helps. Pro flex didnt give much thought to someone wanting to run a skimmer and a fuge by giving enough sections so you could. Think this is why most people actually build a sump out of 40b decent size to do a lot with

CSchill · May 20, 2015

Ok thanks! Yea I'll probably pull the sand and everything out once I order the skimmer. Do you thing the 110sss would be sufficient? Or should I get the 150sss?

tigerdragon · May 20, 2015

Couldnt give you good advice on the reef octo skimmer as i have no personal experience with them so i wouldnt want to steer you wrong srry

saltyphish · May 20, 2015

bigger is always better on skimmers I have heard. A lot of people get a skimmers rated 2-3 x total water volume. I only run nano-tanks right now so I have no experience with bigger skimmers.