Emergency shutoff for skimmer

Hey all,

I just picked up a new protein skimmer that was on sale for black Friday. Its a vertex omega 180i. Im super excited about it but I do have one concern. The skimmer needed to be in about 7.5 - 8" of water and so I had to raise it up a couple inches on some egg crate to reach that level. Combine this with the skimmer being taller than my old one and the top of the collection cup is now higher up than my energy bar for my apex. My sump is kinda tight so I am worried about the skimmer bubbling over and splashing water onto my energy bar. My question is have any of you installed a float switch on the inside of your collection cup to turn off your skimmer? how would you guys recommend I do this?

Thanks in advance!

 

It may be easier to put a drain in the cup.

 

I assume you have a break out box on the Apex as well? You can simply mount a float switch to the bottom side of the skimmer cup lid through one of the "vent" holes. Something like this:

 

Thats is a very elegant solution! I can't wait to set that up. I saw the breakout box but haven't gotten one yet. Did you make the bracket to hold the float switch or did it come with the one you bought?

 

I didn't do anything, I've just seen it done like the above. You can buy float switches with a nylon nut which would attach like you see above as well.

And yes, you'll need a BoB to connect the float switch to the Apex.

 

I have all of the skimmers in our shop hooked up with float switches attached to the break out box. I have it programmed to shut off the skimmer and send me a text message if the float is tripped.

-Nick

 

While there are alternative ways,

This looks to be your easiest and most dependable IMO.

Nic pic btw of the float switch on a skimmer cup

 

Again thanks for the pic its great! I can't wait to set mine up like that

 

I need to do this as well. Easy mod and have the float and controller. Just need the time.