External sump/skimmer

[rnelson]

I am planning the sump/skimmer setup for my 480gal that's due to arrive in mid/late February. I will be building the stand and canopy myself. All the skimmers I've ever had have been in-sump needlewheels. My current skimmer (in-sump Euroreef CS8-2) will be too small for the 480, so I have 2 choices, either add another skimmer or sell the ER and get a larger skimmer. I have also contemplated 2 separate sumps with a skimmer in each, but I don't know whether I'd be running into potential sump flooding problems. If I went with one big skimmer, the height would make it impossible to put in-sump. How is this accomplished? Do you put a pump in the sump that feeds an external skimmer? Or does an external skimmer have to be gravity fed, in which case I would have to drill the sump and plumb around/thru the stand to the skimmer?

Sorry for such an elementary question, but I've just never ran anything outside a sump before.....

Thanks!

 

[lakee911]

You can feed it with a pump in the sump. It's just one more pump though if you can't do gravity. I run a Aqua-C EV-120 external. I will be using a needwheel as my next skimmer though

Jason

 

[rnelson]

Jason,

Thanks.....did you just not like your AquaC or did you outgrow it?

Any recommendations for this next skimmer of mine? I was looking at these:

Trigger Systems TS-1000
AquaC 400
LifeReef VS3-48 or VS3-60
MyReefCreations MR-3R
MTC HSA-1000

 

[lakee911]

I do not like my AquaC. I tried to like it--I really did. The customer support from Jason @ AquaC is really good and it's a well built product, but for me it just doesn't perform and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

It's really sensitive to anything in the tank. It'll skim all day long and after feeding it'll shut down for a couple of hours. If my hands are in my tank, again it stops for a couple of hours. I cleaned it a little better than usual (wiped out neck w/ wet papertowel) last Sunday. It was Thursday before it was skimming again! When I clean the glass w/ a magfloat, it usually stops skimming too. Maybe there isn't enough bioload in the tank or something, but for me it doesn't work well.

Jason

 

[sjm817]

You should look at the ER RC500 with 3 Eheim pumps. It would be a nice external skimmer for a 500G.