Yeah, I was doing a bunch of reading on RC about the most efficient/effective way to skim. The thought basically was (I can't find the link right now) if your first baffle sits up off the bottom and the water is forced to go under the first baffle, all the proteins/fats/oils etc that you really want out of your water by the skimmer would float to the top. If your water flows over the 1st baffle all that stuff on the surface goes with it and the skimmer doesn't have the time to get it out.
So I was wondering if there was a way out there to have the best of both worlds - surface skimming capability and easily removable socks - but maybe there isn't.
And maybe it's not that big a deal either, I've been running my tank for almost a year now and my skimmer stills fills with muck and seems to be doing it's job well enough.
So about what you would do differently...
I think I see what you mean. There's very little difference in height between your 1st, 2nd and 3rd baffles. I can see how if the flow slows down in the filter sock section it would quickly over flow into the heater section. And if there isn't any flow through the socks the water wouldn't pass by the heaters.
For my heater placement, I have 1 heater in my skimmer section under where my drain lines are so it senses the water temp coming from the DT and another in my return chamber where my overflow from the refugium dumps into it so it senses water from that chamber. I actually am quite pleased with that placement. So other than adding another heater or 2 for some safety margin I doubt I'd change that but maybe some food for thought for you.
Is the plate your sock holders sit in siliconed in or is it just sitting there, able to be removed if need be? I'm assuming it's made of acrylic?
Thanks for all those pics to those who supplied them, I think I'm starting to get an idea of how to do this. If anyone else has any ideas or thought to this I'm all ears
