Where to place skimmer?

cdangel0

Member
Just upgraded to a 92 gal bow front corner aquarium. tank came with a wet/dry filter system (I think that's what it's called, Bio-balls on one side, just water and return pump on other). Can I put a protein skimmer on the pump side of the wet/dry unit or do I have to get a HOB style?
Sorry, still really new to all this, only used to having a 29 gal and everything was HOB for that one.
Thanks,
Craig
 

f14peter

Member
There are plenty of skimmers designed to work in the sump, the AquaC EM-series comes to mind, and I believe the Coralife SuperSkimmer is an in-sump design. I have heard that for maximum efficiency, a skimmer should process the dirtiest water you can give it and most sumps would have the skimmer downstream (So to speak) of the filtration. That all said, a skimmer in the sump and post-filtration would undoubtedly still do a good job and certainly better than no skimmer at all.
Couple of things to look out for . . . footprint, which is how much "floorspace" a skimmer occupies, some can exceed what your sump has (the pump for the skimmer can contribute to a large footprint). Also, some skimmers are pretty tall so there may be issues if they're inside a stand as you must leave some "headroom" to remove/clean the cup on some models.
 

cdangel0

Member
Originally Posted by f14peter
I have heard that for maximum efficiency, a skimmer should process the dirtiest water you can give it and most sumps would have the skimmer downstream (So to speak) of the filtration.
Wouldn't the dirtiest water be up-stream of the filtration?
So the pump side of my filter is considered a sump?
Like I said, very new to all of this, especially this large a tank. The fact that all my stuff was the LFS display and didn't come with any manuals is not helping matters any - I'm still trying to figure out how much light I have.
 
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