protien skimmer question

[3m]

I just bought a 150 g tank and the chap who owned it prior had his skimmer set up on the side of the tank ( see photo) I dont like having the thing exposed would it be okay to set this up below with the sump or does it have to be higher?

 

[scsinet]

Protein skimmers cannot drain into any location higher than their outlet pipe fitting. I can't tell from the pic where the outlet fitting is, but it's usually just below the neck of the skimmer. So as long as you can fit pipes to that that drain horiziontal or downwards to the sump, you are fine. If the fitting does not clear the top edge of the sump, then you either need to drill the sump to accept the drain line, raise the skimmer so teh outlet goes over the edge, or put the skimmer in the sump so it can drain straight down.