What sump and skimmer should I get?

rkm

rkm

Member
I asked this question in another foum with little response. I have a 75g tank now. I have a mag 350 with bio wheels and a red sea prizm skimmer. I wanted to get a sump. I do have a reef set up working now. I have been looking into the aquaclear 2000 system. It had a skimmer built into it. The LFS said it was a bad idea to get a sump with a skimmer in it. What do you think? Is their any other products out there that people have been using with good luck? What would that be? How about the price? I do have a little giant pump that I was going to use with my sump. Will it be too much current? Is their a such thing? If so Do you think that I could make 2 discharge tubes and put them in both ends of the tank? I also have a duel feed overflow box that is fairly new. Can anyone give me any ideas?
Thanks
Ryan:)
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
You can use a lot of things for a sump, some people use tanks that they have sitting around, or even rubbermaid containers. As for the skimmer, there are tons of skimmers that you could use. I've been really impressed with the HSA or Downdraft skimmers, although they can be pricey. The company that hosts this message board sells an assortment of good models of the co-current or counter current models. I would save the Prizm for a smaller tank, 75 gallons might have been pushing the envelope with the prizm, they're great skimmers up to 55 gal or so for a FOWLR tank.
 
david s

david s

Member
ryan we need a little more info first what size pump do you have gph ?? if it was me I would buy a 20 or 30 gal tank and instead of the aquaclear and the money you save buy a better skimmer as far as overflow boxes i have one that uses a U tube and it works flawlesly there are fancyer ones but i have seen post were some fail.all I know is my U tube works awsome even when pump is shutoff for hours just make sure you match your pump to less gal per hour than your overflow or make a t and dump some water in sump or to a fuge
 
rkm

rkm

Member
Thanks for the replys,
The pump is a little giant. Thants all I know I can get a # off of it. It gives me no gph info on it. I got it from someone that had it on a 150g tank. They said it should do around 900gph sounds a little high to me. The overflow box that I have has 2 u tubes in it. with 2 holes in the bottom of the box. I guess that pulls 2x the amount of water out of the tank. Do you think these wet dry systems will work better than my mag 350 and bio wheels. THe LFS said the canister I have is not good for a reef system like mine. Any ideas? I just thought the aquaclear system looked good. It was all one unit. Is the skimmer that comes with it junk?
Thanks
Ryan
 
rkm

rkm

Member
pic of overflow. Do you think I can make something work with this. I also have a big bag of bio balls.
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
Ryan, I couldn't tell from the picture if that was Model 4-MO-SC or 4-MD-SC, I couldn't find anything on an MO but here is the spec sheet for the 4-MD-SC, it is 185 watts, same as the one you have.
You'll need the adobe reader for the pdf. Anyway, it's 850 GPH at 1 foot head. It looks like it has excellent pressure characteristics. I would definitely use hose clamps on all connections, the pump puts out 10.5 PSI.
http://www.littlegiant.com/littlegia...Sheets/582503/$File/995757_4-MD_SC.pdf
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
You should be able to put a valve on the output side of the pump to adjust the flow down to what you need without any problems, just don't try to restrict the intake of the pump, that will ruin it for sure. Make sure you make real good connections on all of the plumbing, since that is a high pressure pump. If one of your connections comes loose it will ruin your whole day.
 
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