what controls water heigth

The heigth of the water in my sump where the skimmer is meant to go is not high enough. It is at its max level in the 3rd chamber when the tank water is off. When I turn the pump on and the water goes down, it goes down to about 6.5 inches and my skimmer states an 8-10 in level for working. Also is this why the bubbles on the skimmer that I just started today are not anywhere near the top?

 

The baffles control the height of the water in the sump. The section with the return pump will have all of the variability.

The water level in the skimmer needs to be adjusted so the bubbles go higher. Read your manual on how it is done for your skimmer. There is usually a tube that needs to be raised or lowered or turned or a valve to control the water level.

 

Call ma crazy but I think judging by the picture of the sump you posted, your skimmer should go in the middle section. Seems like you have it in the return pump section. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong...

 

+1
It looked the same to me......The only chamber that should drop when you turn your pump on is the return chamber. The center will always stay the same heigth, unless it's at it's peak water level, and you get some back fill from the return line, it sometimes overfills.

 

So I do have the skimmer in the same section as the return pump which does vary in level. But if I place the skimmer in the middle section (refugium) I will not be able to use that section for growing cheato, or can I still?

 

It seems that sump wasn't set up for a fuge imo...

 

Only other way I could see you getting away with it the way you have it set up is if you got an ato. If you can keep the water level in the return area somewhat the same height then the skimmer should be ok.

 

The skimmer being in that section is going to give you micro bubbles int he display as well. I would personally move the skimmer and scratch the notion of chaeto, or do a separate fuge. I would rather have an efficient running skimmer than chaete. Just sayin

 

In addition, read up on evoBak. That may obviate the fuge if appropriate for you.

 

If you've already put sand and chaeto in the middle partition, depending on the heigth of the sand bed, and the requirements of your skimmer depth, you could set your skimmer on a makeshift stand composed of lighting grid cut into sections, and ziptied together to make a cube shape. It does appear that the sump you purchased was not intended for a Fuge, and most likely you'd have success running another seperate 5-10g tank for that purpose as mentioned. If sharing the section doesn't work, then simply put, it is what it is.