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Unread 11/06/2017, 05:31 PM   #1
flgoose
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looking for suggestions

Hi all,

Well after the death of my 300 gal tank, I'll have to start over. after a lot of considerations I've decided to go with a 90 gal tank. I know its going to seem tiny after the 300 gal.

Anyway, in the 300 gal, I had 1 of the 2 returns from the tank going into the 4.5 gal DIY skimmer the other into the sump. It worked perfectly.

So I was thinking of doing the same on the 90 gal. Just pipe in the return from the tank into the skimmer and out to the sump before returning to the display.

Ok it is a big skimmer and probably way oversized for the tank but I figure it shouldn't hurt anything. it's not going to skim if there is nothing to skim. the skimmer is stand alone. by doing this I wouldn't need extra chambers on the sump. Probably wouldn't need a sump at all other than increasing the volume and room for other things.

What you all think of this idea.


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Unread 11/06/2017, 07:18 PM   #2
October Sky
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Any photos? There's so many different DIY skimmers that it's almost impossible to tell what you have.


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Unread 11/07/2017, 08:40 AM   #3
flgoose
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Picture is in album

Quote:
Originally Posted by October Sky View Post
Any photos? There's so many different DIY skimmers that it's almost impossible to tell what you have.
I have no idea how to insert a picture from my album. Anyway it is uploaded to my album named skimmer.

The skimmer is 8" in diameter with overall height of 32". It is all glass and holds about 4 1/2 gal. It is a stand alone and is powered by a mag 950 pump. the picture was taken at build testing it. It worked very well on my 300 gal once I fine tuned it and put it to work.

anyway picture is irrelevant for my question. The skimmer was skimming the 300 gal tank perfect with room to spare so I'm sure it will skim a 90 gal. I'm sure is way too big but like I said, it only should skim if there is anything to skim. The idea was to plum the full return from the tank into it ( I'm sure the skimmer will handle it) instead of return to the sump and pump into skimmer than return once more to the sump. the 300 was using 2 mag 1800 pumps to the display and 2 returns. one to the skimmer, one to the sump. The 90 only going to use 1 of the mag 1800 pumps and have only 1 return.

Gosh my head is spinning now. My thinking was to push the entire return trough the skimmer and use the sump just for extra volume, refugium and of course pump the water back to the display. I hope I make sense cause I don't know any more.


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Unread 11/07/2017, 09:12 AM   #4
RobZilla04
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The 90 has two holes at the bottom of the overflow, correct?

Thus one needs to be used as the return. If you use the remaining hole as the drain from the overflow and plumb directly to the skimmer how are you planning on getting water into the sump?

Also a consideration is where are you going to place a skimmer of that size? Under the tank will take up significant space.


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Unread 11/07/2017, 08:58 PM   #5
laverda
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That should Work fine. Since the skimmer is so large, you may want to just run it at night to help balance the ph swing and cut electrical usage.


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Unread 11/08/2017, 03:03 AM   #6
flgoose
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobZilla04 View Post
The 90 has two holes at the bottom of the overflow, correct?

Thus one needs to be used as the return. If you use the remaining hole as the drain from the overflow and plumb directly to the skimmer how are you planning on getting water into the sump?

Also a consideration is where are you going to place a skimmer of that size? Under the tank will take up significant space.

Of course it has 2 holes and I plan on using them as intended. the return will go directly to the skimmer. None of the return water will go directly to the sump.

I DIY everything on my 300 including the tank but now I'm older and glass is soo expensive so I decided to go smaller with a stock tank. The stand I built for the 300 is going to be resized for the 90. the stand is plenty tall to accommodate the skimmer. I made the stand out of poplar years a go and it looks like a piece of furniture so its going to be recycled. I'll see if I can find a pic and put in my album. the stand was made to be disassembled so resizing it won't be too bad. Of course I won't have as much room with the smaller footprint but since I'm starting over, I will resize the sump (currently 60 plus gal) for the available space after everything else has its place in the stand. I am in the planning stage with this so when times come, I can rebuild everything at once.


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Unread 11/08/2017, 03:06 AM   #7
flgoose
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That should Work fine. Since the skimmer is so large, you may want to just run it at night to help balance the ph swing and cut electrical usage.
I taught it would work after all the sump is really not a filter any more. the days of bio balls are long gone.


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