plumbing skimmer to drain

[scarf_ace1981]

i've decided to plumb my skimmer directly to one of my drains. my concern is, will i have to adjust the return pump? can this be done? or is it just asking for headaches?

the other drain will be plumbed into a phosban reactor.

 

[bad coffee]

Depending on the amount of water coming thhrough the drain you might need a bypass. That way you won't have to throttle back the pump.

B

 

[bklynreef]

scarf,
if it goes directly to your drain then you will not know if the skimmer is skimming or not. Its always good to see whats being skimmed.
just my opinion.

 

[bklynreef]

opps, i misunderstood. wrong drain.

 

[pecan2phat]

scarf,

It all depends on approx how much your drain is pushing out what your recomended turnover rate is for the skimmer. Unless you have a fairly large skimmer and I'm assuming this is a needlewheel recirc, you will most likely need to tee off the drain with an adjusting vlalve to dial in the correct flow. Note that venturis, spray injection, becketts will not work since they need pressure rated flow, this is just good for a feed source such as in a recirc.

Sometimes, drain feeds are not cut out as great as they sound. Yes, they feed the most protein ladden water available to a skimmer but they also affect the skimmer performance due to bubbles and turbulence. If you have a durso, you will have air and water feeding into the skimmer.

 

[meschaefer]

I am also thinking about plumbing my return directly into my skimmer. As the flow needed to the skimmer is approximately 1/10 what my drain is producing I thought that I would T it off. I figured that since the T going to the skimmer would be choked off with a gate valve to control the flow, with most of the water from the overflow going the other way, that it would carry with it most of the water and turbulance.

Am I wrong? Is adding more air from the durso a bad thing?

While we ar eon this topic, does anybody know if there is a standard PVC fitting that is threaded the same as the Savko 1 inch bulkhead?

 

[scarf_ace1981]

thanks guys. the skimmer is just a ER es5-3. i guess i won't plumb it to the drain. doesn't seem like it would work.

i'll leave it the way it is currently: the water comes down the drain into a filtersock and then gets skimmed. the other drain has a valve so i can control the rate of gph and will be plumbed to a phosban reactor.

 

[pecan2phat]

scarf, you cannot plumb the ER that you have because it is not a recirc.

 

[MO~IDOL]

If your want to do gravity feed. check the links below some good tips...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=848756&highlight=gravity

 

[scarf_ace1981]

gotcha pecan.

thanks for the link moidol. when i upgrade my skimmer i'll put those ideas to work.