Choosing a skimmer - concerned about tuning

[Henry]

Hello,
I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea. My stand is only
26 1/4" from the floor to the bottom of the tank. I have plumbed an
extension on my wet-dry by drilling an old 10g tank and using bulkheads. My
plan is to put a skimmer in the 10g along with the return pump, then remove
the bio-balls from the wet-dry and use it for maco algea.
I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.
What is not clear and is a concern to me is how these units might need to be
setup and/or adjusted to work properly. With the limited clearance under my
stand, the unit will have to sit on the bottom of the 10g tank and any
adjusting will have to be done via a gate valve.
Any comments/recommendations are welcome - the Grinch I work for gave me
a bonus this year and I hope to purchase something before Christmas.
Happy Holidays to all
Henry

[Marc Levenson]

I can only comment on the Aqua C and the Euro Reef because those I'm familiar
with.

The EuroReef can sit in deeper waters, up to 11" I believe. It is adjusted by
lifting and lowering the tube adjascent to the reaction chamber (where the
bubbling takes place). It is pretty simple, but make sure the footprint fits
your 10g. Remember it will have a pump in there with the skimmer, PLUS you
wanted to add a return pump as well.... might get *very tight* in there... plus
you won't have much room for water volume which means either topping off very
regularly or using a top off switch.

The Aqua C is adjusted with a gate valve, and can only sit in 6"-8" of water.
It could be put on a short stand to lift it up slightly, but you have limited
room. The good thing about that unit is the collection cup only needs to be
lifted about 1/4" and it can be removed to the side or out the front. Very
userfriendly.

When you consider your wet/dry for the new refugium, and a 10g to hold the
skimmer and return pump, you have to consider two things:

How much water will the combined units hold when the power goes out and the tank
drains off the excess until the overflow box is level with the water's surface?

What will you do to reduce microbubbles in your tank?

Here are two webpages to give you some ideas and some suggestions. Both of the
skimmers mentioned above are great units.

http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/make_a_sump.html

Marc


Henry wrote:

> Hello,
> I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
> relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
> water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea. My stand is only
> 26 1/4" from the floor to the bottom of the tank. I have plumbed an
> extension on my wet-dry by drilling an old 10g tank and using bulkheads. My
> plan is to put a skimmer in the 10g along with the return pump, then remove
> the bio-balls from the wet-dry and use it for maco algea.
> I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.
> What is not clear and is a concern to me is how these units might need to be
> setup and/or adjusted to work properly. With the limited clearance under my
> stand, the unit will have to sit on the bottom of the 10g tank and any
> adjusting will have to be done via a gate valve.
> Any comments/recommendations are welcome - the Grinch I work for gave me
> a bonus this year and I hope to purchase something before Christmas.
> Happy Holidays to all
> Henry

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Henry]

Marc,
The 10g tank sits now with about 3" of water in it. The drain from the
tank overflows enters the Amircle Wet/Dry on the far right at a depth of
10", then goes over a barrier onto a drip tray, down into the bio-balls with
about 3" of water in that section. It then passes through a foam pad into
the area the return pump currently sits in. On the wall of that area is a
bulkhead that connects via 1/1/2 pipe to the 10g tank. I can put the pump
for the skimmer in the 10" section of the wet-dry to supply water to the
skimmer and put the skimmer and return pump in the 10g tank. This will
limit the amount of waterflow through the area that currently has the
bio-balls. I also can raise the entire depth of the water in the sump and
still have plenty of room for a power outage.
From your pages, it seems I have a problem with the return water from
the skimmer being next to the return pump to the tank due to microbubbles -
I am not sure what I can do about that.

Henry
"Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
...
> I can only comment on the Aqua C and the Euro Reef because those I'm
familiar
> with.
>
> The EuroReef can sit in deeper waters, up to 11" I believe. It is
adjusted by
> lifting and lowering the tube adjascent to the reaction chamber (where the
> bubbling takes place). It is pretty simple, but make sure the footprint
fits
> your 10g. Remember it will have a pump in there with the skimmer, PLUS
you
> wanted to add a return pump as well.... might get *very tight* in there...
plus
> you won't have much room for water volume which means either topping off
very
> regularly or using a top off switch.
>
> The Aqua C is adjusted with a gate valve, and can only sit in 6"-8" of
water.
> It could be put on a short stand to lift it up slightly, but you have
limited
> room. The good thing about that unit is the collection cup only needs to
be
> lifted about 1/4" and it can be removed to the side or out the front.
Very
> userfriendly.
>
> When you consider your wet/dry for the new refugium, and a 10g to hold the
> skimmer and return pump, you have to consider two things:
>
> How much water will the combined units hold when the power goes out and
the tank
> drains off the excess until the overflow box is level with the water's
surface?
>
> What will you do to reduce microbubbles in your tank?
>
> Here are two webpages to give you some ideas and some suggestions. Both
of the
> skimmers mentioned above are great units.
>
> http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html
> http://www.melevsreef.com/make_a_sump.html
>
> Marc
>
>
> Henry wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
> > relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
> > water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea. My stand is
only
> > 26 1/4" from the floor to the bottom of the tank. I have plumbed an
> > extension on my wet-dry by drilling an old 10g tank and using bulkheads.
My
> > plan is to put a skimmer in the 10g along with the return pump, then
remove
> > the bio-balls from the wet-dry and use it for maco algea.
> > I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.
> > What is not clear and is a concern to me is how these units might need
to be
> > setup and/or adjusted to work properly. With the limited clearance
under my
> > stand, the unit will have to sit on the bottom of the 10g tank and any
> > adjusting will have to be done via a gate valve.
> > Any comments/recommendations are welcome - the Grinch I work for gave
me
> > a bonus this year and I hope to purchase something before Christmas.
> > Happy Holidays to all
> > Henry
>
> --
> Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
> Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
> Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
>
>

[Jimmy Chen]

> I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
> relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
> water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea.

> I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.

For your size tank, I would suggest you look at the next model up of your
selections.

jc

[Henry]

Jimmy,
Thank you for the input.
I would love to try the Evo 750 or EV-240 but I do not have the height
under the stand.
The CS6-2 is possible.
Henry
"Jimmy Chen" > wrote in message
...
> > I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
> > relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
> > water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea.
>
> > I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.
>
> For your size tank, I would suggest you look at the next model up of your
> selections.
>
> jc
>
>

[Marc Levenson]

Once you remove the bioballs and the drip plate, your
wet/dry-converted-to-a-sump will fill up with more water than you are
expecting. It did for me when I did the same.

You'll have to think about how you want to do this, to avoid microbubbles. You
might reverse it to have the water pour into the 10g where the skimmer is
sitting, then it pours water into the refugium, through a bubble trap and then
finally the return zone where your return pump is located.

Those wet/dry units have the partition in the wrong position, but you could
alter it to make a decent bubble trap and cut/route/drill the existing partition
to let water get through. It'll be noisy, unless you make a lot of holes that
are decent size.... like I said, I did it once myself.
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/tank/front_newsump.jpg

Marc



Henry wrote:

> Marc,
> The 10g tank sits now with about 3" of water in it. The drain from the
> tank overflows enters the Amircle Wet/Dry on the far right at a depth of
> 10", then goes over a barrier onto a drip tray, down into the bio-balls with
> about 3" of water in that section. It then passes through a foam pad into
> the area the return pump currently sits in. On the wall of that area is a
> bulkhead that connects via 1/1/2 pipe to the 10g tank. I can put the pump
> for the skimmer in the 10" section of the wet-dry to supply water to the
> skimmer and put the skimmer and return pump in the 10g tank. This will
> limit the amount of waterflow through the area that currently has the
> bio-balls. I also can raise the entire depth of the water in the sump and
> still have plenty of room for a power outage.
> From your pages, it seems I have a problem with the return water from
> the skimmer being next to the return pump to the tank due to microbubbles -
> I am not sure what I can do about that.
>
> Henry
> "Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I can only comment on the Aqua C and the Euro Reef because those I'm
> familiar
> > with.
> >
> > The EuroReef can sit in deeper waters, up to 11" I believe. It is
> adjusted by
> > lifting and lowering the tube adjascent to the reaction chamber (where the
> > bubbling takes place). It is pretty simple, but make sure the footprint
> fits
> > your 10g. Remember it will have a pump in there with the skimmer, PLUS
> you
> > wanted to add a return pump as well.... might get *very tight* in there...
> plus
> > you won't have much room for water volume which means either topping off
> very
> > regularly or using a top off switch.
> >
> > The Aqua C is adjusted with a gate valve, and can only sit in 6"-8" of
> water.
> > It could be put on a short stand to lift it up slightly, but you have
> limited
> > room. The good thing about that unit is the collection cup only needs to
> be
> > lifted about 1/4" and it can be removed to the side or out the front.
> Very
> > userfriendly.
> >
> > When you consider your wet/dry for the new refugium, and a 10g to hold the
> > skimmer and return pump, you have to consider two things:
> >
> > How much water will the combined units hold when the power goes out and
> the tank
> > drains off the excess until the overflow box is level with the water's
> surface?
> >
> > What will you do to reduce microbubbles in your tank?
> >
> > Here are two webpages to give you some ideas and some suggestions. Both
> of the
> > skimmers mentioned above are great units.
> >
> > http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html
> > http://www.melevsreef.com/make_a_sump.html
> >
> > Marc
>

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Jimmy Chen]

> The CS6-2 is possible.

How about the CS8-1? It allows you to wide as well.

jc

[Jerry]

I have to agree with Jimmy. I'm using the ETSS Evo 500 on a 120 gallon
setup. Its a great skimmer but its flow is maxed out with the Iwaki pump I
have hooked up to it pumping 600gph. I don't think it can support a 180
gallon setup. Next size up should handle it just fine.
"Jimmy Chen" > wrote in message
...
> > I have a 180gal FO tank that is running without a skimmer, currently
> > relying on a wet/dry and live rock. I want to add a skimmer to get the
> > water quality up and to help battle phosphates and algea.
>
> > I have looked at the ETSS Evo 500, AquaC EV-180 and Euro-Reef CS6-1.
>
> For your size tank, I would suggest you look at the next model up of your
> selections.
>
> jc
>
>