Qualitydaydream's 180 - 250 transplant! **Pics Galore**

I run a Super Reef Octopus 3000 internal, I would highly recommend this brand of skimmer to anyone. It pulls lots of nasties out and I empty it about every three days. My nog is dark and pretty opaque. I guess that is how I know it is working. I run 150 gallon DT, and a 3 gallon sump and I have the 3000... I would want the 5000 if I had your tank.

"...Is my current sump able to have the return center while the refug and skimmer are on separate ends?..."

Absolutely! You will just have to do some plumbing to have 2 drains into your sump. I have a drain into my fuge and a drain into the skimmer section of my sump. I have a ball valve on the fuge side so I can dial the flow up and down. I like the design of having your dirty water enter half into each chamber cause you know your fuge is getting the most nutrient rich water.

my two cents
Heidi

 

Thank you Heidi,

Should I go with a gate valve over the ball valve?

 

Mine is a gate valve. I have a Ball valve up further to shut off both drain outlets. I have never had to use it. I personally HATE ball valves. I think its cause I am a woman so weaker hands make them very hard to close. Either would work gates are slower but easier to close and open. Balls... quick.. plus they sometimes make noise when they are half closed/ opened.
Hope that helps some!

Heidi

 

Yes it does help. I'm considering this.

Oh yea and I'm a man that has trouble with ball valves as well.

 

It looks like you could go return in middle. I would need a head on side shot to see how things overflowed. It looks like the baffles for the skimmer compartment are taller than the fuge.... then that is lower and overflows to the end return.

I think you could just put the reurn in the middle.... incase you don't know... you fill your system up and let it run pump in the middle.... any evaporation will show in the return section.... as water in the system is lost... the compartments and tanks stay full because of the baffles... and the level is lost in the last place, the return section... so, you run the return section "normal" level just below the last baffle where the fuge is now... you split your drain and supply say 100 GPH to your fuge, and it overflows the baffle into the middle camber. That would sort of happen anyway... but by running the middle chamber just a little lower, you can always "see" what is going on.

On a side note, you will probably have bubbles coming from your drains and that will need to be dealt with. Herbie takes care of that.

You will always have condensation in a skimmer. your skimmer probably isn't broke in yet... it needs a good week. Water/bubble line should be around top of cylinder where it begins to neck down, or maybe half way into the transition to the actual neck.

 

So with the return in the middle it is prone to bubbles?

I'm unable to get my sump out of the stand so I'll take better pics for you.

Also I would love to do herbie but the things I am not willing to give up are the return pipes to the line loc out and I don't want anything running off the back.

I'm getting pretty close to ordering my lights, any other suggestions versus PR-156W's?

Also im torn between Octo 3000 and SWC 300 now..

 

Well you will have to read my sump/filter write up. You will have bubbles from your drains, and that will need to be dealt with. You don't necessarily need a bubble trap between the fuge and return... you don't get micro bubbles like from a skimmer... but they do need to be dealt with. You will see a couple of way to do that in my thread.... so prone to bubbles??? No, but you need to get them from the drains.

I'm not the light guy. I had 250 MHs and have not looked into all the others... like MH, but LEDs are worth a look. In case you didn't know... I'm tankless. Lights will be something I have to study up on if I get back in.

The Octo is a great skimmer. The BB pump is a good pump. It will serve you well, you can't go wrong.... the SWC with the Askoll??? Hands down I get that pump every time and never look back. Seriously, it is a great, proven, high quality pump. Quieter than the BB. As long as you are OK with the price, it isn't even really a decision... and yes it is worth the extra. And other motor block by the same company are not as easy to modify... so that particular one is used by several companies, and it obviously has a limited range... it just happens to be perfect for your system.

 

Just an update,

My 2xPR-156W's in Black arrive in a few days.

We can't get ahold of SWCSkimmers in Canada to get my LFS the account because I have credit for the PSK-200. Does anyone have a #.

Last thing is that my sump was designed to have everything flow from one end to the other with how the baffles are laid out. I'm stuck right now not sure if I should keep it the way it is like the image below. Any Ideaas?

 

Here's something interesting, SWCSkimmers advised I use a Y pipe to split the flow from my overflow half into my skimmer area, half into my refug area.

the positive is that the flow to the skimmer is reduced allowing the water to be skimmed at a better rate.

and that the refug get's the nutrient rich water it needs.

Yes some of that dirty water ends up in the return and goes back into the display tank but the SWC300 w/Askoll would cover it no problem.

 

The important thing to remember is that we do not have a once through filter system like say a RO/DI unit... dirty water in, clean water out... we simply recirculate water, we skim it, we move it, we filter it, and we circulate it again and again. At the end of the day the waste is dealt with, we can achieve very low nutrient levels in the water column and feed our animals very very well.