Filtration Sequence????

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Why would this be such a bad thing, most in-sump skimmers are designed to dump back into the same chamber they pull from? The goal is to eventually skim the whole watercolumn, the only thing you might lose is some skimming efficiency, but what is gained is 1 less issue when your return pump shuts off and you are now draining the stable leveled skimmer section of the sump into the return chamber, potentially exposing any items in that section to air (like heaters/probes) and eventually running the skimmer pump dry as well.

Think about it.

If the output of the skimmer is dumping back into the same chamber/area that the skimmer input is pulling from, you are just recirculating the same, already skimmed water. Granted you will be pulling in some new water, but not as much as if the skimmer output went into the next chamber of the sump.

As for draining the chamber where the skimmer is, I doubt that, unless you have the divider all the way up to the top of the sump. Once the next chamber reaches the top of the divider, it will back flow into the skimmer chamber.

Try setting your skimmer up this way and see if you don't pull out more gunk. Also you can move your heaters etc to the second chamber if your worried about the water level droping too far.

 

[kgross]

Setting up your skimmer so it only gets unskimmed water does make it work a lot better. I really like setting them up like this when ever possible, and then setup your return pump to pump just a little bit more than your skimmer pump, so a little bit of unskimmed water makes it over the baffle, the rest goes through the skimmer. But with hang on the back, it does not make any real difference.

 

[peppie]

The HOB skimmer will run independent from the HOB fuge. The skimmer will have its own coast to coast overflow to draw water from.
I have thought about plan -B- I will add a ball valve to the exit side of a maxijett 900 and try to dail in the proper flow rate

Yes or No??

 

[kgross]

The problem with doing an overflow to feed your hang on the back skimmer, is what happens when your water level drops from evap? Are you going to do an ATO on the setup so the water level can not drop?

Kim

 

[zyphen]

Interesting, I have never seen an in-sump skimmer set up that way, the output plumbing on mine would have to be modified & added to. I will definitely look into that! Thanks.

 

[kgross]

I do it when ever I can. On a normal needlewheel skimmer, add a T to the output, then run the side of the T over the baffle with an elbow going down. you need the T so it does not try to siphon the water out of the skimmer. When you do this, you need to make sure your return pump pumps more water than your skimmer pump. I try to set it up so it is just a little more, but as long as it is more your skimmer will not run dry as long as your return pump is working.

Kim

 

[peppie]

Yes there will be an ATO system hooked up to the tank

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Interesting, I have never seen an in-sump skimmer set up that way, the output plumbing on mine would have to be modified & added to. I will definitely look into that! Thanks.

It's not that hard to do. A 90 degree elbow and a little PVC and your set.