Pros and cons direct feed from overflow to skimmer.
- Thread starter Norboo
- Start date
graveyardworm
Premium Member
An illustration of your plan would be helpful. In both cases does the skimmer outflow go back to the tank? Is there a sump in the first example?
To try to answer your question in the first scenario all of the tank water would be subject to skimming more often, whereas if the skimmer pickup and drain was in the sump it would take longer for all of the system water to pass through the skimmer (there would be more recycling of skimmed water).
I prefer the sump with pickup and return there.
To try to answer your question in the first scenario all of the tank water would be subject to skimming more often, whereas if the skimmer pickup and drain was in the sump it would take longer for all of the system water to pass through the skimmer (there would be more recycling of skimmed water).
I prefer the sump with pickup and return there.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
Something that just crossed my mind, if your skimmer return is straight back into the display you may have problems with microbubbles in the display.
People with recirculating skimmers would be the ones to ask. They usually feed from the overflow into the skimmer, but I think a T is common to force only part of the flow through the skimmer. If you were willing to limit the return flow appropriately, you wouldn't need the T, but would probably lose a lot of flow. Up to you. All kinds of designs will work.
keefsama2003
In Memoriam
i have a 5ft skimmer direct to a bulkhead coming from my overflow into my sump. at the output on the skimmer i put a 90 to aim the output away from my return pump and i get 0 microbubbles in the display and it really works well. then i have 2 drains into my refugium that drains into the sump and then its all goes back to my tank
javajaws
Premium Member
Here's the theory behind direct feeding vs. feeding from sump...
When feeding from the sump, the water that gets fed to the skimmer typically comes from near the bottom of the sump. If the water flow through the sump is slow enough (and typically is), the surface scum from the tank has a chance to separate and will once again be present on the top of the water...but this time in the sump. And if your skimmer intake is at the bottom of the sump it won't be able to skim this stuff out.
Changing the intake to the skimmer to get directly fed from the overflow eliminates this problem and increases the effectiveness of removing that top level of scum.
I'm not sure anyone has quantitatively proved the advantage/disadvantage however...
When feeding from the sump, the water that gets fed to the skimmer typically comes from near the bottom of the sump. If the water flow through the sump is slow enough (and typically is), the surface scum from the tank has a chance to separate and will once again be present on the top of the water...but this time in the sump. And if your skimmer intake is at the bottom of the sump it won't be able to skim this stuff out.
Changing the intake to the skimmer to get directly fed from the overflow eliminates this problem and increases the effectiveness of removing that top level of scum.
I'm not sure anyone has quantitatively proved the advantage/disadvantage however...
