Octopus NW-150 Noob

[Conesus_Kid]

I'm in the process of building a sump out of a 29 gal. tank for my 75 gal. display tank. I ordered an Octopus NW-150 skimmer and have a couple of questions:

First, I am trying to decide how high the water level in the skimmer chamber of the sump should be. I would like to go 14" high, if possible. Is there an optimum water that this skimmer should operate in? (The directions make no mentions of this, only a diagram of how to assemble it.)

My 29 gal sump will look something like this:

| | | |
| skimmer | | | return | |
| | | | | fuge |
| | | | | |
| | | | |
|__________|__|______________|____________|

Second, there is an adjustable tube for the skimmer's output. How high/low should I have this? What does the height of this tube control?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Conesus_Kid]

Well, that ASCII art is a trainwreck.

Basically it's skimmer section -->return<--fuge.

Sorry about that! (It looked okay before I posted!)

 

[aquarius77]

How will you get water to the fuge?

I think its reccomended to have the skimmer in the part where the water comes back into the sump from the display.

 

[jasontg99]

Conesus,

I have my tube adjusted to the middle of the neck. It really depends on what type of skimming you want to do...dry or wet. Adjust it to your liking. Also, the instructions don't tell you this either...you need to remove the strainer in order to put the piece with the air tube onto the pump. I agree with aquarius...move the skimmer next to where your overflow dumps into the sump.

 

[Shagsbeard]

If you make the skimmer section too deep, you can always put your skimmer on a stand. It you make it too shallow, you're out of luck. I'd go with a safty margin and build a stand out of some cutting board material.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

The return from the display will empty into the skimmer section. From there, it will go through baffles to the return section (in the middle of the sump). There will be a T w/ball valve off of the return to feed the fuge so that I can adjust the amount of flow going to it.

I wasn't sure how tall I could make the baffles. I'd like to make them as tall as I can to allow more water volume in the return section.

I figure I'll make them ~14" tall, and if I need to make a little stand for the skimmer, that's what I'll do.

What will be my first clue that the skimmer is sitting too deep in the water?

Thanks for your help!