Sumpless Skimmer

[RayAllen]

I want to run a sumpless system but at the same time want to run a skimmer on my 210g that will handle the load of larger fish. Im going sumpless for a few reasons. 1 the tank will be more or so FOWLR and easy softies that spread quickly, because some of the fish angels, wrasse etc.. may nibble 2 Im trying to avoid to many mods to the custom stand that came with the aquarium. Im a little out of my territory on this. I know how HOB and insump skimmers work but am not sure of out of sump. I would assume the skimmer would be gravity fed via overflow or drilled hole go into the skimmer most likely Bekett skimmer with recirculating pumps and then the output would return back to the main tank via plumbing with a mag or what ever pump I choose. Am i thinking right?:lightbulb:


Ray

[brewercm]

I don't know how you can do this without either setting the skimmer above the tank or using a hang on style skimmer.

[caferacermike]

Skimmers from Euroreef, Deltec and others that can be ran out of the tank still need something like a sump to flow back into. They are not a closed system. Any water gravity fed to them would eventually (in seconds) fill the skimmer and overflow onto the carpet in the same manner a water change would. It'd need to have the collection cup and drain above the tank. You could build a stand for it next to the tank.

[RayAllen]

I see, that makes sinse. I will rethink this a bit and see what I come up with. It be nice if they actuall made a HOB skimmer that could handle the tank but they dont. I will most likely end up running a sump then

[Richard]

I'm using a Tunze DOC (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~protein_skimmers_tunze_d oc_comline_nano_classic.html) skimmer on my sumpless 210. It is an in hang in tank skimmer (not HOB) but can be in sump also. They don't take up much space and are not very noticable in the tank, just looks like a black overflow box. It's skimming nicely and I don't even have livestock in the tank, just some cured liverock.

[RayAllen]

Sweet, thanks Richard that really made my day. That saves me a lot of hours on modding the stand for a sump, not to mention money on a sump tank, return pump, drilling, plumbing and many trips to Home Depot. All in all I just saved $400-$500. Also from what ive read on the Tunze DOC's is that they are excellent skimmers not to mention Tunze makes GREAT products all around. Im think im going to buy the Tunze DOC 9010.

[Richard]

I got the 9005 because mine is a planted tank and I don't want too skim too aggressively but if I were doing it over I'd get the 9010 just because it has a bigger collection cup. I have to empty mine every other day (without any livestock yet) so once my tank is stocked I'm probably going to have to end up drilling a hole in the collection cup so I can hook it up to a waste collector.

The tunze mounting kits are somewhat confusing. My tank has euro bracing all around so the skimmer was kind of unstable. So I siliconed some short plastic rods (cut from plastic coat hangers) onto the back of the skimmer to brace it and keep it level. It worked well.

It's really just a good venturi needlewheel skimmer made to hang in the tank. Mine pumped out quite a few micro bubbles for several days while it broke in but none since.