More predictable Skimmer???

[ickmagnet]

My tank is 5 ft long and the sump is 3 feet long. the remaining space is taken up by my barracuda pump so what i did was build a little shelf above the pump to fit a bucket for the ATO. What ended up happening was that a siphon was created (because bucket was higher than the sump). So, I abandoned the whole idea. I'm trying to keep the room as tidy as possible and a bucket outside of the stand will look unsightly.

So...I'm going to add water manually every other day at first and then every day if this doesn't work.

Thanks