Tank (filter sock idea) before skimmer

[Remmers]

I am building the rack that my sump and such will be going on.

The sump will be on the ground and on a shelf above it will be 3 other tanks.

I am going to make one of them my fuge, the other will be a frag tank, the 3rd one(closest to the skimmer below) I was thinking of having my main drain flow into it and then it would drain into the sump.

I am not going to be using filter socks but I want to do something that will catch the "dirt". My LFS has there system set up to where there drain goes into a "catch pan" that has blue filter pad, and then drain's into there sump tank.

If I was to do this, would it be good to throw some live rock in there to help with the filtration?

I would be changing out the filter pad weekly if not sooner, since you just throw it away and put a new piece in.

Let me know if this sounds right or if I should go a different route.

My ATO tank will be on a seperate stand next to this.

[travis010]

The filter pad idea should work but I think you're going to end up wanting to change it much more frequently than once a week. Depending on how big your setup is and how much water you have running through it, I think the filter pad is going to get clogged up pretty fast.

One thing to think about if you are doing an intermediary step between the main drain and the sump is a backup plan for if the drain in your middle section gets clogged up. This could be reduced flow from a clogged filter pad or something else getting in there. Your main tank would still be draining at the normal rate and could overflow the middle tank if you don't have an emergency overflow of some sort.