Skimmer Output Placement

[chips]

I purchased a new skimmer because my sealife skimmer just isn't enough. I also built a new sump out of a 20 gallon long tank. I have 11 inches for the overflow going into a sock into the sump. My skimmer will also be in this chamber. I then have a bubble chamber made if three pieces of acrylic siliconed in place with reef safe silicone. After the last piece of the bubble trap there is a refugium section of 8 inches. I then have a 4 inch piece of acrylic siliconed to the bottom of the sump with 6 inches of egg crate on top of it. Then I have my return pump going up to the display tank. Sorry I have no pictures of this set up, but with talking to saltwaterfish.com during purchasing my skimmer they said this setup was a Berlin style refugium. My question is where should I point the output of my skimmer? Should I point it straight to the bubble chamber or should I point it away from it so it just goes back into the same chamber as it started in? Or does it really matter as long as it is in there skimming.

 

[florida joe]

First a Berlin style system is basically a natural system of filtration. It is improved with the addition of surface skimming and a protein skimmer. As for the return from your skimmer you want it as far from the skimmer pump as possible to cut down on repetitive skimming of the same water

 

[chips]

So would it be okay then to make the output dump into the first chamber of the bubble trap?

 

[florida joe]

yes
But ideally your return water from your skimmer IMO should go into the area of your return to your DT pump

 

[chips]

Thank you very much. I know this is off topic but where should I put the heater. In the first chamber or in with the return pump?

 

[florida joe]

I personally like to place a heater in an area that has the most flow. Slower areas of your refuge will heat up and hold heat longer so you may not get a true temp in your DT as per what you set the heater at

 

[chips]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///t/389287/skimmer-output-placement#post_3439564
I personally like to place a heater in an area that has the most flow. Slower areas of your refuge will heat up and hold heat longer so you may not get a true temp in your DT as per what you set the heater at
I put my heater in with the return pump thinking that it had the most flow closest to what was going back in the tank. The tank is around 72 degrees. I moved the heater to inside the bubble trap thinking that all the water had to go through it since I have not moved the output of my skimmer yet ( I have all the parts to move it now) and still 72. I added a powerhead in with the return pump just to add flow and added a little heater that I use to warm up my makeup water and purchased a digital thermometer. In the evening when the lights go out it is about 74.5, during the day with the lights on it is reading about 75.1. I put a floating thermometer in the refugium and it is reading 75. Before I added this refugium the temp was between 76 and 78. I know I added water volume so it would need more heater to run that but I added the other heater that keeps a 10 gallon bucket around 80. I did add about 3 feet of line to the return from the sump to the tank but both the sump and the DT are reading close to the same temp (one digital and one floating thermometer). I don't think that I can put the heater anywhere else in the sump to make any difference now since I have had it in all possible locations, so I ordered a new heater. I will be going from a 200W heater to a 400W heater that is suppose to go to a higher temp setting than the walmart heater I was using. Do you think this will get it heated up to 80-81 or am I going to have to look at putting the heater in the DT? Or is there something wrong with my setup?

 

[florida joe]

The problem I believe is that your heater is not keeping up with the heat loss of your tank. Ambient temp and evaporation. The new heater will most likely correct your temp problem as it is more powerful and I would suspect more sensitive to temp changes