External Skimmer good idea or not?

[mvallee]

How many folks run external skimmers to save room in their sumps, if so what types of problems do you run into that I might want to be aware of? I am converting my Freshwater RedSea Reefer 450 back into a reef tank. The Sump is basically a 40B tank with baffles with one big center section for the skimmer and all equipment.
Besides the benefit of a decent fuge, with my last tank I think I spent as much time lying on the floor watching the critters in the fuge as I did the display. There is enough room for a fuge but it would be the same compartment as the skimmer and that would be less than ideal, even a space saver skimmer is 8X10 taking just over a third of the space. Plus I would not want a skimmer pulling water directly from the same space as the macro algae and all the critters were living.
My thought; on the right side of the reefer there is a dry section of the cabinet that most reefers put chillers into, why not put an external skimmer there. I could tee off either the return line or the overflow to feed the skimmer and then plumb the output of the skimmer back over to the return section of the Sump. It does not have to be a huge skimmer as total volume would be less than 110 gallons.
My concerns; thinking about my last in sump skimmer were issues with overflows, for various reasons I remember the skimmer overflowing after chemiclean was added or during break in period or a good cleaning. I could put it in a plastic tub with some type of sensor to shut off it got wet. Then there are power outages if I tee off the overflow and being lower than the tank a large portion of water would flow into the skimmer right?
I really hate the idea of no fuge but am afraid of an externally plumbed skimmer, should I be?

Picture during clean up yesterday for those unfamiliar with the layout of a redsea reefer

 

[Chris A.]

You could run a pump to feed the skimmer from the drain section , that should keep the overflow situation to a minimum. Tie it into a apex with leak detectors to shut it off if there’s a leak.

 

[Chris A.]

But I’m pretty sure the output of the skimmer can’t be lower than return to the sump level of the sump. If it has head pressure it’ll overflow

 

[mvallee]

But I’m pretty sure the output of the skimmer can’t be lower than return to the sump level of the sump. If it has head pressure it’ll overflow

If output is gravity fed that changes everything, can anyone confirm? looks like some more research for me.
Thanks

 

[Chris A.]

Not really as long as output of skimmer is still higher than the rim of the sump where it’s returning to

 

[Chris A.]

Whatever water drops back from your return line would still be the same thing as gravity feeding the skimmer

 

[mvallee]

I don't think I have room to raise it that high in that dry section unless I can find a short skimmer. I am going to get some specs and do some measuring now

 

[Chris A.]

All you’ll need is the return height of the skimmer to be over the rim hight of the sump so there’s no back pressure on the skimmer

 

[Jim Tansey]

Its going to overflow at times so give a lot of thought as to how you handle the spillover.

Jim

 

[afboundguy]

Its going to overflow at times so give a lot of thought as to how you handle the spillover.

Jim

That was my first thought as well. If you were ever to accidentally get a chemical in there or a massive die off the skimmer will overflow quite quickly.
Why not get a few pieces of glass and make a separate box for a fuge? You could even T off the plumbing so the tank water is split between the skimmer section and the fuge.

And I've had a skimmer and a fuge in the same section and you'd still see plenty of creatures. They make it through the return pump back into the display tank they're tough little things lol...

 

[Nanoreef15]

in sump skimmer is the best and the choice of in sump skimmer is unlimitted

 

[firstimer]

External pumps are a pain.. when u have to service the pump, prepare for water clean up.

 

[dz6t]

I have been ruuning an external super Reef octopus XP on one of the system for at least 5 years, or may be 6?
I used to have the same size SRO XP in sump skimmer on another system. The external skimmer is more stable than the in sump skimmer and significantly more efficient.
External skimmers are recirculating skimmer hence the efficiency. There are recirculating in sump skimmer too but they are rare these days.


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[mvallee]

With the theme of my new tank being KISS (Keep it simple stupid) I am going to stay with an internal skimmer.
Here are the "space saving" skimmers I have narrowed my research down to

I am leaning towards the Essence S-130 - it is the newest model with some really nice features and designed to run quiet which is very important. The Simplicity, which I have never heard of with an adjustable DC pump, quiet operation and highest tank size rating is also intriguing and has a ton of 4 and 5 star ratings.

Now that I know what direction I am going I can continue with the build out and not worry about additional plumbing.

Thanks for all the input, it certainly helped with the decision and I am so excited to be getting back into reefing