If some of you have seen pics of my new project you will notice that I have some space on the left side and the right side of my sump. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=972115
I know that in the near future I am going to be upgrading my pump and my skimmer. First of all, the tank is 380g. So I am going to upgrade later to an external pump, to be placed on either the left or right side of my sump. I will drill the sump on each end of the sump and on the opposite side I would like to run a large external skimmer. What would you guys recommend as a good external pump that runs extremely quiet. Because my bedroom is directly beside of the wall that will house the pump. I have been looking around this morning for skimmers but most of the larger ones must be ran in sump. Because of how the top is on my acrylic sump it limits what I can place in there. So, I would like to have a good 1800-2500 gph external pump on one side and a large skimmer on the other. I was leaning towards an ASM G4X which is rated up to 450g. But those are only in sump. I can't afford to spend bukus of money on a skimmer. So I am looking for the most bang for the buck. Oh, and I have about 30" height to work with under the tank. When I get all this I will have to rework all the plumbing as well. I hear good things about the Iwaki's, but that's about the only brand I hear about when people talk about external pumps. It will probably be upwards of 3-6 months before I can do these two upgrades. I will be using a Via Aqua 3300 for now as a return pump (I know I need bigger but I'm broke
), and a Coralife SS220 with Needlewheel. Maybe Santa Claus will be good to me this year, 
I know that in the near future I am going to be upgrading my pump and my skimmer. First of all, the tank is 380g. So I am going to upgrade later to an external pump, to be placed on either the left or right side of my sump. I will drill the sump on each end of the sump and on the opposite side I would like to run a large external skimmer. What would you guys recommend as a good external pump that runs extremely quiet. Because my bedroom is directly beside of the wall that will house the pump. I have been looking around this morning for skimmers but most of the larger ones must be ran in sump. Because of how the top is on my acrylic sump it limits what I can place in there. So, I would like to have a good 1800-2500 gph external pump on one side and a large skimmer on the other. I was leaning towards an ASM G4X which is rated up to 450g. But those are only in sump. I can't afford to spend bukus of money on a skimmer. So I am looking for the most bang for the buck. Oh, and I have about 30" height to work with under the tank. When I get all this I will have to rework all the plumbing as well. I hear good things about the Iwaki's, but that's about the only brand I hear about when people talk about external pumps. It will probably be upwards of 3-6 months before I can do these two upgrades. I will be using a Via Aqua 3300 for now as a return pump (I know I need bigger but I'm broke
), and a Coralife SS220 with Needlewheel. Maybe Santa Claus will be good to me this year, 
