In-Sump vs. External Skimmer

[stealle]

I am in the very early stages of planning a reef system that will be a 150-200 gallon main tank and a 40-60 gallon sump. Assuming space and money is not an issue, what is best placement for a protein skimmer - in-sump or external?

Please give me some pros and cons of each.

[Jim_S]

I like the externals because it allows more room in the sump, and when I need to clean the skimmer its just a much easier process.

JMO.

The cons would be that the skimmer can overflow. But there are many bennefits to external skimmers including increased performance due to the recirculating configuaration of the pump.

Jim

[stealle]

Yeah, thanks for the response. That is the kind of information I am looking for... I want to know specifically about performance and maintenance.

If you have two skimmers of the same manufacturer that are basically the same model with the exception of one being external and the other being in-sump which one would you expect to perform the best and which one would you expect to be the easiest to maintain, and why?

jimdogg187 - I think you pretty much answered that. Do you have any more thoughts or anyone else want to chime in?

[Doug]

I have used both in sump and external. I like the in sump better because it requires less plumbing. I am somewhat plumbing challenged though. ;)

As far as performance goes, I have had better performance from in sump skimmers but I think it is because there were just better models than the external skimmer that I was using.

[stealle]

Thanks for the response. I'm looking at the H&S skimmers. I dont want to turn this into another "what is the best skimmer" thread. But H&S offers high quality external and in-sump models.

So if the plumbing was done up right, would one be any better over the other?

Any more thoughts, anyone?

@Doug - I just looked at your "Interests" in your sig. Any chance you are that guy from the movie Duece Bigalow. You know... the bad-a$$ with the fast car and the reef tank.:D

[Volcano1]

I have used H&S both a in sump and currently externally. I had my feed water for the in sump run directly into a separate container, slightly elevated from the water level of the sump. The skimmer sat there and only had the direct raw tank water to process. Any extra would spill over the side into the rest of the sump. I think this helped get the advantage of the recirculating a little closer to the in sump in terms of efficiency.
I currently have the external configured so the feed pump sits in the same chamber the in sump did, thus increasing it's efficiency more.
Some people choose to feed directly to the external from an overflow, but this seems to give a little better stability to the incoming flow.
Externals remove some of the heat from the pumps not being in sump.
Externals take up more space , if you use them externally.
Internals take up more sump space.
Externals can also be used as an in sump, well at least the H&S.
Externals require additional pump = more $$. HTH's.

Todd