Calling all skimmer gurus!

I have been doing a ton of research and am probably more confused now than when I started. I would like to know that I am getting the right amount of flow through my sump to make sure my skimmer is running at optimal performance.
Tank: 75 gallon mostly sps reef
Skimmer: Vertex In-100
Sump: 20 gallon long
Water depth (in sump): 8inches
Return Pump: Mag 7(rated at 480 gph at 4 feet of head height)
Return line: 3/4 inch
Overflow box: 2 x 1" drains
Do I need to process more water through the sump, you know, get a bigger return pump?
I couldn't find the exact specs on the pump size but I did see that it draws 420 lph @20 watts.
Any help would be ppreciated.

 

not a guru but sounds like it should be fine.

How old is your system and has it decreased in performance over time?

If you don't have many fish and feed lightly your bio-load may not be too bad requiring less to skim.

What and much do you feed each day/week?

Lastly, how long has the skimmer been running since it's last "big cleaning" or yearly-ish cleaning. I'm talking about a day or two running in water/vinegar solution to decalcify it?

 

The system is over 5 years old. The skimmer is less than 6 months old. I haven't given it a vinegar bath but over the weekend I did pull everything apart and scrub all parts and put back together. My bio load is low with 5 fish and one feeding a day. 1/2 a frozen cube every other day and a pinch of flake or pellets on the opposite days. I have algae problems and am just trying to rethink everything. What originally got me to thinking of this was my ph has been low, like 7.8 or 7.9. I assumed it was due to being winter in Idaho, no fresh air in a basement tank. I wondered if I was getting enough turnover in my tank with my return pump...yadda yadda yadda performance of skimmer yadda yadda yadda

 

So most of the sites seem to agree that you want your skimmer's pump to closely match the flow rate of your sump. I am having a hard time finding any details on what "size" the pump on the Vertex In-100 is rated, anybody?

 

Not sure about the pump but I would expect 150-200gph water draw with the skimmer. IMO you should have no more than 250gph going through your sump. I like to shoot for 3x the DT or 10x the sump volume. This will be a pretty light flow you will want to add additional flow inside the DT using powerheads

 

You are fine... like AZ said, probably 150200 gph.

The skimmer does not care, it's going to process what it does regardless. Every hour, it is going to move 200 gallons through it. If you were only moving 100 gallons through your sump, then it would still do a decent job. @00, fine... more than that... you are just wasting power.

Plus you have to look at your sump... how well does the water coming into the skimmer compartment get used, and how much just bypasses... or rather does the outlet of the skimmer get put back to the inlet?

My drain line 90ed straight into the skimmer suction.. not hard piped, but the only water the skimmer took in was straight from the tank... after that it all left the compartment at some point. Make sure your skimmer is not "recircing" what is in the compartment.

 

Thanks azjohnny and Powerman. That all makes sense. The sump is setup so the flow is left to right. The drains enter my refugium first. The skimmer compartment is in the middle. The skimmer is positioned so the intake is on the front left side and the exit is on the back right. I don't think it's recirculating. Maybe I should plumb one of the drains to enter just the skimmer compartment?

 

I tried to submit a photo but it says a "security token is missing"?

 

Typically fuges require slower flow than what would go in the rest of the sump. I would have the drain flow into the 1st section where the skimmer is located and than the return pump would be in the second section, The 3rd section would be the fuge where you could have a slight amount of flow coming out of a T section off of the return pump pipe and return back to the second section( I would limit the flow to about 50-100gph)

IMO a Fuge is a safe haven for pods and other marine life, and the normal flow you would have in a sump would be too much for a fuge to be effective