Designing a my new aquarium

[downbeach]

Keep in mind that these skimmers have an optimum operating depth, and if you're placing your sump in your cabinet, you have to make sure you have enough head room to accommodate the hight of the skimmer and potential platform it may have to sit on.

 

[Fish Brain]

I am running a RO XS160 on my 120. My tank is lightly stocked, and has been running less than 2 weeks, but it is pulling out some crud from the tank. Waiting to see how it does in the long run when I get some more livestock.

 

[MikeF1986]

I've heard that having a skimmer rated for twice the gallons of your tank can be beneficial, is this true?

 

[iTzJu]

I've heard that having a skimmer rated for twice the gallons of your tank can be beneficial, is this true?

I believe it is beneficial, it is always good to get a skimmer rated higher than your tank's water volume. You can never over skim, you have to take into consideration your tanks future bioload and how often you will be feeding your tank. the bigger the skimmer, the faster the organic waste will be removed from the water column.

 

[fatoldsun]

I’m not sure how helpful this is but worth mentioning because you’re still deciding. I have a SRO 2000 XP running on a 90g display with a 40g sump. I like the skimmer but it’s not as easy as I’d like. Basically it is too big for my sump. I built the sump and started with a bubble magus 6A. The issues are a little hard to describe – if you look at my build page or some of the skimmer threads I started you’ll see pics but the issue is that the sump section is a bit too narrow for this skimmer – like ¾”. It’s “in-sump” but the pump is an outboard so the footprint is bigger than the diameter of the body. (The bubble magus I had or the “space saver” models basically have the pump under the skimmer body) The only way to get it to fit is to rotate the pump - herein lies the problem. Once you “alter the orientation of the pump’s intake”, you alter the ideal operating depth of the skimmer. I had to point it down (up and it sucked air from the surface) and pointing it down seems to trick the skimmer into thinking it’s deeper in the tank. To counterbalance, I had to raise the skimmer up and it is not so high I only have a millimeter to spare when getting the cup off to clean. It’s kind of a pain, enough so that I’m considering ripping the sump out and rebuilding it to accommodate the larger skimmer. You should note that I built the stand and made it extra high so I have an unusual amount of clearance.

My $0.02, don’t buy a skimmer or sump with the expectation that you’ll keep either forever. Try to leave flexibility to make changes down the road. I tried to future-proof and I was unsuccessful – I hope you have more luck with that than I did but keep in mind that sttuff in this hobby changes constantly and who knows when a super efficient skimmer will come out that you may want, etc...