skimmer water height

[OCJoeR]

I'm setting up my first saltwater tank and picked up a Somatic 60 skimmer for the sump. The set up call for the water height to be 6" - 9". Does that mean from the base of the skimmer the height the water in that section of the sump must be?

My sump, 28 gallon glass tank, 18" high, which I bought used, has a 3 sections. The first section has a wall that is 14" high. The middle section is separated from the pump section by a bubble trap (I think that's what it's called) the first wall of which has holes in it. Right now the first row of holes is about 12" above the floor of the sump. If 9" is the highest the water height can be for the Somatic I could drill a new set of holes at that height, or lower. I can't put the skimmer on anything to raise it because there is not enough room in the cabinet.

Have I got the water height definition correct? Would drilling a row of holes lower down on the bubble trap wall work to bring the level down?

Thank you,
Joe

 

[Weasel1960]

I am sort of new to this but if you provide some pictures of your sump the folks will be able to help you much better.

I do know some folks raise their skimmers up instead of doing new holes but that may affect other things that’s why pictures will help. Include skimmer in sump if you can.

 

[OCJoeR]

Here's a photo of what the skimmer looks like in the sump. I can't raise it up because the cabinet is not tall enough.

 

[rusty hannon]

Hi there this is just what I see so please don't b offended, I just installed a new skimmer and had height probs too. I went to homedepot and got 4 1in coupling to correct my prob n it worked like a charm. If you don't have that option I'd look into another skimmer before taking drill to glass. IMO those 2words shouldn't b in the same sentence. Although truthfully I'm considering drilling my wife's tank for an overflow, but not until I can afford to by her another one. From a bodyshop owners side metal and glass is never a good idea
I hope the best for you and can't wait to see you're setup full soon

 

[Gtinnel]

You are correct that it is talking about the water height from the bottom of the skimmer. I suspect if you try to run the skimmer in that sump the way it is you will have problems.
I can't see why drilling enough holes at the proper level to pass the water through wouldn't work. You just need to make sure there are enough holes that the water level stays the same.
Is the baffle with the holes in it glass?

 

[OCJoeR]

You are correct that it is talking about the water height from the bottom of the skimmer. I suspect if you try to run the skimmer in that sump the way it is you will have problems.
I can't see why drilling enough holes at the proper level to pass the water through wouldn't work. You just need to make sure there are enough holes that the water level stays the same.
Is the baffle with the holes in it glass?

Thank you for the info. That baffle is plastic so I'm just going drill a line of holes at about the 7" level. That should put the water height at a level that would work with the skimmer. If I need a little higher level I can adjust either the pump or the drain valve.

Do you know if I'm correct about the bubbles not going up into the top of the skimmer? Would this be because I'm running it on clean water?

 

[Gtinnel]

Thank you for the info. That baffle is plastic so I'm just going drill a line of holes at about the 7" level. That should put the water height at a level that would work with the skimmer. If I need a little higher level I can adjust either the pump or the drain valve.

Do you know if I'm correct about the bubbles not going up into the top of the skimmer? Would this be because I'm running it on clean water?

If you drill the holes at 7 inches that will set the water level. Unless there is something I'm overlooking you won't be able to adjust that level with the pump or valve. If you are running the skimmer in new saltwater then it will produce bubbles but not the stable foam that is needed to be collected.

 

[OCJoeR]

If I reduced the return pump speed so that the pump was pushing the water into the tank at a slightly slower rate than it was draining wouldn't that cause the level in the sump to rise?

I guess I could cut down the baffle that is in there, cut another piece of acrylic the length of the baffle, drill elongated holes on either side so that it could slide up and down on a couple stainless steel bolts that I could attach to the baffle that is in there. That way I could adjust the height of the first baffle and thus the water level in that section of the sump?

Joe

 

[theMeat]

Yes Joe, from base of skimmer to top of water in that section is correct.
If you don’t have room to raise skimmer you can either make your tank stand higher so you have room to raise skimmer, or make your sump baffles lower

 

[OCJoeR]

I was about to adjust the holes in the baffle down to about 6.5" but thought I'd ask about the bubble trap, which the baffle is part of. I've attached a drawing of what I have now, including where I plan to put the skimmer. Baffle A, which is glass, is is 15" high, 3" below the height of the sump. Baffle B, which is acrylic, is currently 14" high with holes at approximately 10". This gives me a second chamber approximately 17" wide. Baffle C is also glass and is set about 2" from Baffle B and 6" from the other side of the sump which is where the return pump is.

If I were to either cut Baffle B down to 7" or drill holes at 7", so it will keep the water height at that level for the skimmer, how would that affect the water height in the sump? Again I do not have the option of raising the skimmer up because I do not have enough height in the cabinet under the tank.

 

[theMeat]

Would raise baffle A off the bottom an inch, and put another shorter baffle next to it from bottom up to desired skimmer height. This won’t change anything unless you address baffle B and C,

Baffle b needs to be shorter (desired skimmer height). Would not drill, would remove, cut, reinstall.

 

[OCJoeR]

Would raise baffle A off the bottom an inch, and put another shorter baffle next to it from bottom up to desired skimmer height. This won’t change anything unless you address baffle B and C,

Baffle b needs to be shorter (desired skimmer height). Would not drill, would remove, cut, reinstall.

Thanks Meat,

So I'd have to do something like this? What would that do to the water level in the compartment with the return pump? Would slowing the pump down allow the water level in that compartment to stay high enough so the pump doesn't run dry?

Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

Sorry forgot to put in the height for the new baffle and modified Baffle B. They'd both be 7".

 

[theMeat]

Ideally the water would fall over baffle B and into lower return pump section. Unfortunately that level is low because of your skimmer. An auto top off would help

 

[OCJoeR]

Unless I can figure out something else I guess that's my only answer. That cuts down my sump volume from 25 to about 12 gallons.

 

[OCJoeR]

Would raise baffle A off the bottom an inch, and put another shorter baffle next to it from bottom up to desired skimmer height. This won’t change anything unless you address baffle B and C,

What is the purpose of raising Baffle A and adding another baffle?

Baffle b needs to be shorter (desired skimmer height). Would not drill, would remove, cut, reinstall.

I've got Baffle B out. This guy must have had stock in a silicone company. There must have been 2 tubes of silicone holding this baffle in. And that's not to mention all the silicone on the other baffles and around the corners of the actual tank. I don't know if this thing had a leak at some time or if he just wanted to be extra cautious but I think I'm going to remove all the excess and fill it again and check for leaks.

Anyway I think I'm going to build an adjustable baffle B so that I can adjust the height of the water in the skimmer section. If I cut slotted holes in one section and used nylon bolts/nuts to hold it on so I could loosen the nuts and move it up or down depending on what height the skimmer needed to operate properly? Any thoughts?

Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

I'm still not sure about the purpose behind raising Baffle A up from the floor of the sump so I've left it where it was. I did read another thread where someone put 3 pieces of 1" pvc pipe under his skimmer to raise it up a little. I measured and found there was about 4.5" of additional height above the top of the skimmer where the 2" x 4" supports were. I cut 3" pieces of 1" pvc pipe, stuck them to the bottom of the skimmer with double face tape, put clear silicone on the bottom of each piece of pipe and set it in the sump as far to the back of the compartment as I could get it. Now I can slide it off the pvc pipes and it will set on the base of the sump where I will have enough room to remove the collection cup and clean it. This gives me an additional 3" of water in the sump. I still have to cut down Baffle B a little and reattach it inside the sump.

Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

I'm still thinking about Meat's suggestion of raising Baffle A up off the bottom. I'm wondering what the purpose of this first compartment was. Could it be used as an ATO if I left the baffle where it is? Would I then have to route the drain lines into compartment 2?

Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

I'm trying to figure out this sump thing and started reading threads that talked about uses for the different compartments. The used one I bought had 3 compartments. It looks like he had the tank water coming into the center compartment. There's a bulkhead in the back wall of the sump in that compartment, with about 30 pounds of silicone around it. I've taken it off and cleaned all the silicone and replaced it into the hole. The compartment to the right has a wall that goes from the bottom to about 3" below the top. This is the one that Meat said I should raise up and add a 4th wall that would come up to the height needed for the skimmer. The left side compartment is for the return pump.

In many of the threads here and elsewhere it looks like the right side compartment should be the initial compartment that the tank water flows into and have a filter sock and be used for the skimmer. The center compartment could be used for additional filtration material, rock, algae etc., and the left side for the pump.

Since I'm new to all this I wanted to confirm this before I removed the walls and cut new walls. Would I be better off changing the wall in the right side so it's the height I need for the skimmer water height, moving the skimmer into that compartment, adding a holder for a filter sock, then letting the water flow over that new wall into the center compartment. I can put a plug in the bulkhead so no water leaks out. Then leave the higher walls, for the bubble trap between the center compartment and the return pump compartment. I'm not sure if I'd ever start a refugium, but I suppose the center compartment is where it would go. Since the display tank is only 45 gallons I don't think I'd use and ATO.

Joe

 

[OCJoeR]

Here's my final plan for the sump. I've removed all the baffles that were in the tank and will be making a compartment on the side where the drain water comes in that is 12" wide with a 9.5" baffle. I'm going to use 1" pvc tubing to raise the skimmer 2" in that compartment. That will give me the ability to move it off the tubing so I can take the collection cup off to clean but also gives me an extra 2" of water height. I'll be using a filter sock on the main drain line from the tank.

The center compartment is going to be for later use for additional filtering material.

The last compartment will be for the return pump and separated from the center by 3 bubble trap baffles.

Hopefully all the plumbing will be done sometime this weekend so I can start setting the tank up.

Joe