Originally Posted by medhatreefguy (Post 639101)

My buddy reefbyremote was in the exact same situation as you with his 90, he ordered a SWC 160 to cut down on noise and he has good things to say about it. Maybe he'll chime in and give you some feedback on his new skimmer.

Originally Posted by reefbyremote (Post 640106)

As medhatreefguy noted, I was in a similar situation and bought the SWC 160 cone. It is very quiet and we have guests sleeping right beside it. I have it in 7 inches of water, if I move it to about 8.5 the return will all below the water level and even quieter but I see no reason to do so. It also really pulls out the scum.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo (Post 639518)

I lost most of my 2006 pictures in a Windows crash... :sad: Otherwise I'd show something better.

First I pushed the grey riser tube right to the bottom and got rid of the annoying sponge. The mod is as follows: 90 degree elbow on top of riser tube, a T off of the 90 degree, gate valve below the T, tie it all together with some short lengths of PVC pipe and add a an additional length to the top of the T. The location of the 90 degree and the T is probably interchangeable. I don't recall exactly why I put them where they were.

Restrict the gate valve to achieve the desired foam hight in the skimmer. Water comes up the grey riser tube, through the 90 degree elbow, into then partially up the T and then down and out the gate valve. Back then if I were to look down through the top of the T I'd see the water level slightly up into the top. Water would exit smoothly out of the bottom with only a trace amount of bubbles but no splashing or gurgling noise. The white speckles in my picture are little calcium tube building worms of some sort.

Now if the water level in your sump is a lot lower than mine was you might still have an issue. I had a 55gal as a sump so I think my skimmer was sitting in 10-12" of water.

I hope this helps.