External Skimmer - In or out of Sump

[WLachnit]

OK, I know that the pros and cons have been discussed before, but am hoping to get a crisp answer (wishful thinking).

I have a Reef Octopus 250EXT for my 300g mixed reef. Both my skimmer and the sump have to fit under the tank, so I have limited space....and I need to rebuild my sump. Do I maximize my sump size by placing the skimmer in the sump?....or do I build a smaller sump to accommodate the skimmer externally? Seems to me that I would gain some sump volume if I went with a bigger sump but not a lot since the skimmer would displace some of that.

Also, I know that I have seen skimmers that are plumbed remotely. For those installations, how is the increased back pressure dealt with?

 

[ca1ore]

All I can tell you is that I always run external skimmers external to the sump. Sump space is valuable and not worth being used up by the skimmer. Yes, it increases the possibility of leaks, but frankly if you plumb it well that's really rare.

 

[WLachnit]

All I can tell you is that I always run external skimmers external to the sump. Sump space is valuable and not worth being used up by the skimmer. Yes, it increases the possibility of leaks, but frankly if you plumb it well that's really rare.

OK, but in my case my sump will be smaller (60" vs 75" long) so that I have room for my skimmer.