need some sump setup advice

J

johntran216

Hi all, i have this sump that im not sure if its efficient. I wanna make the best of the equipments i have so i was wondering if i should set this up any other way? I just feel like my system is missing something, but not sure where to start. I just want my livestocks to be as happy as possible. My dt is a 75g and this is abt a 20g sump. Overflow drains on the left, then its the refugium, and finally skimmer w return pump at the end. I couldn't fit the skimmer in the first chamber :(. I've thought about swapping the return pump and the overflow drain but didn't know if that would be effective enough to try. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
 
I would try swapping the return and drain sections. With the return and protein skimmer in the same section, you aren't effectively using your bubble trap to the full effect. Also, I would rather have my water go from the fuge, directly back to the DT, I have heard the skimmer can pull some of the helpful critters out of your water.
 
ok that's what i was thinking.Aand is there anything i should do with the drain tubing? It's just sitting in the water chamber. i've seen other fancy ways of having it connected to the sump, but unless there's a good reason for it, i guess i'll leave it as is. Hopefully by swapping the drain and return, it'll stabalize and improve my filtration a little better. i know people say live rocks are the only filtration we really need, but i can't help but to notice that my water doesn't look so clear w some algae problems, especially in that sump. Anyone notice anything else that i should add or do to the sump?
 
You could probably add a filter sock to "polish" the water and remove a lot of the particles that are floating. Something like this.
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Ok i did the swap! Now, i have an urchin pro skimmer and noticed with all the space i have on the right side, i can have a larger skimmer. Any suggestions or should i just stick w it? It's currently acting up and skimming a lot of water this week for some reason. Not sure if it's because i had to turn it off a few times when i was working on it.... but i notice a lot of liquidy bubbles were being made and flowing even into the return. It's a mess as of now, and im hoping i just need to wait for it to break in again? What do u guys think of this skimmer for the 75g?
 
I have used a remora pro and an urchin pro in the past if you are getting extra bubbles take out the screw and run a pipe cleaner in the nozzle you might have shrapnel in there BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROP IT in to the body see if you still have 4 notches in side there but I guess the answer to your skimmer question depends on your bio load / and if you have or want SPS in the future I love the RED LINE 125 for my 80 gallon or check out the vertex 125 just as good at a smaller price IMHO they both preform well and I think you will be happy with one or the other -CURT
 
i couldn't find much info on those skimmers curt, or where to get them for less than $200. I did however, get my hands on an aquac ev-180 to play with. Just need to find a 900gph pump somewhere.. ~_~
 
ok i just got an ev-180 from my uncle for cheap, and it's working great!! I made a mistake when i swapped the tubings. I should have taken the water levels into consideration. The water level on my skimmer side was too high, causing it to run wet. I had to raise the ev180 as well to get it to run properly. Anyway, learned something new and upgraded at the same time :)
 
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