Protein skimmer question

[malawidave]

I've only kept fish only live rock tanks so far and have never used a protein skimmer. I'm in the process of building a custom 50g tank with a custom internal overflow, trickle filter, refugium, UV, ect...

I was planning on moving from just fish to some simple corals and an Anemone... Now to my question

Where would be the best location for the skimmer? In tank, as part of the overflow, in the sump, refuge, or what?... I figured I'd get info from yall who do more with salt than I do.

Thanks in advance

 

[Pig8enis]

IMHO in tank would be the best solution. The optimal place for a skimmer is inline right before then wet/ dry. This is so it remove oc before it can collect in your filter media thus eliminating the bioballs " nitrate bomb" stand-by.

 

[FLESHY]

Skip the bioballs altogether. There is no point.

I dont know how you would mount a skimmer in your overflow, but its really up to you.

Reason my skimmer is in sump is simple.

Its out of sight (looks better) and skimmers as powerful as I need cant fit on tanks.

 

[Otherone]

In sump - also I'd skip the UV for corals and anemones as it may kill off their tank born food supply. You could use LR or LR rumble under the trickle.

 

[malawidave]

awesome, thanks for the info. and as for how I would get it into the overflow... thats why I was asking, I'm building the tank with a custom overflow... if it would be a good place I could definatly engineer it... somehow ha ha ha

I use to design and build custom car parts, (intakes, turbos, superchargers, exaust systems) once I know the mechanics and scientific reasoning behind something I can figure out a way to impliment everything together. What gave me the idea though was the BioCubes, everything fits right into the back of the tank. I was figuring, if It was done there, could I do something close to that, but only larger and slightly different.

On another thought... A wet/dry with LR that feeds into a refugium was actually part of the original plan... is that good or not? How I've ran my salt tanks so far is a large HOB with dead coral and LR pieces in it, and LR in the tank. I've never had any problems with just fish and crabs. I was curious if this would still work on a larger scale using the wet/dry for more water volume and asthetic purposes