Skimmer Plumbing Question

[Trollicus]

Hi everyone. I have a vertex in-100 skimmer that was purchased used with the full setup I have.

I *think* I have it setup correctly but am confused as to the cup drain and stopper. Here is the diagram shown. I have the airline port hose connected to the venturi bracket. However, there is another airline hose connected to the cup drain and stopper portion, but not going anywhere and just resting in the water. My thought is that this would just drain any excess skim right back into the tank. Since it didn't come with a plug, I could plug the hose off or put it in an external bucket.

Basically just looking to make sure I'm understanding correctly and it that the hose isn't fine just sitting there.

Attached is the pic of my sump right now.

 

[thegrun]

The volume of the typical collection cup is fairly small. To make it so you don't have to empty your skimmer daily, most of us attach an airline to the cup drain and run it to a larger collection container. This container obviously needs to be lower than the collection cup so the skimate flows down to the container. As a safety device, if you have a controller place a float switch in the collection container programmed to shut off your skimmer if the collection container fills up, avoiding a messy skimate flood. If you don't set up a container, simply leave the cup drain capped.

 

[phillrodrigo]

My skimmer cup doesn't come out of my sump so easy. I used the hose as a way to empty it before I take it out. I use a tapered frag plug to plug the end. It works very well. I tried the bucket but if the skimmer overflows or go nuts for any reason you will have a huge mess.