Skimmer selection help – external

[hanslanda]

Good Morning all!

Tank: 55 gal

Sump: 20 gal tall

Skimmer: Coralife 75



I am looking for some help with skimmer selection. I have slowly been upgrading my equipment over time to make life easier on myself (RO/DI setup, ATO, adding goodies to SUMP) and have come to the conclusion that my skimmer isn’t meeting my expectations. It works, don’t get me wrong and has gotten me this far… But its inconsistencies I can no longer deal with. I clean it once a week, it takes a day or two to normalize, skims protien for a day, then it doesn’t skim at all until it gets cleaned again. I think I get 3/7 days in a given week of actual skim time due to this. It makes having a 2 gallon waste tank for the skimmer pretty pointless outside of its overflow issues I encounter also... pretty regularly. Anyhow. Not a fan of Coralife and I’ve read this in the past but have chosen them generally for cost alone. NO MORE I say.

I am looking for an external skimmer that does not hang on the sump. I would like some freedom with where it can sit as my current sump has some height limitations in the cabinet. It will need to be on the floor next to the sump, and pretty well below (8") where a hang would sit. Something people regard as consistent and not a pain to get running to a “normal” state. Can that be managed without having to boost its height way up?

 

[Rmckoy]

Being only a 55 gal dt
Finding a external skimmer that’s not excessively overkill would be hard .

I don’t know if there is actually a thing saying a skimmer is too big .
or over skimming .

I ran a Mrc mr2 on my 90 gal
And when upgraded to a 230 still using the same skimmer .


check out Mrc ( my reef connection ) external skimmers

 

[driftin]

I use a Reef Octopus Classic 110 EXT. Bought it in 2015 and it looks like there have been some updates to the unit since then, but nothing too significant. I've been very happy with it. It's easy to adjust the water level (gate valve - always a little finicky to dial in) but it's really consistent. Not a single issue with the pump or venturi either, I've been really happy with it. I've probably done a deep clean on it only 3 or 4 times since putting it in service. Usually just clean the neck and the cup once a week and let it get back to doing its thing.

In terms of setting it up, you'll need it to be physically high enough that the horizontal discharge pipe will clear the top of the your sump.

 

[hanslanda]

Thanks all!

I really like both options. Both seem pretty reasonable.

I see these come equipped with the bubble generating pump next to the unit, and it mentions using a in-line pump. Do you run the pump in the sump itself or run a pickup? Do you run the return pipe to some type of bubble diffuser or just wrap some filter fabric around a pipe?

 

[driftin]

Correct, the integrated pump on the external recirculating skimmers will pull from the skimmer body, through a venturi to create the bubbles, and then straight back into the body of the skimmer. System water enters the skimmer through a separate connection on the body.

I have my display tank drain plumbed straight to the skimmer. Other people have a small pump in their sump and pipe that to the skimmer. I'm sure there are pro's and con's to each. The size and (lack of) space in my sump led me to set it up the way I did.

The section of my sump that the skimmer dumps into has a cover on it to prevent bubbles/splashing from getting every where. Was that what you were asking about?