Herbie overflows and gravity fed skimmer?

[sphelps]

If possible you could also place a tee before the skimmer pump input, this way you could feed the overflow water directly into the skimmer pump rather than the skimmer body. If you did this you wouldn't have to worry about eliminating the overflow bubbles from the skimmer feed. It may even be beneficial to do the exact opposite as the previously posted schematics and send the highly aerated water to the skimmer while the lower aerated (quieter) water is sent into the sump.

I've has these pictures lying around from a previous project. Obviously not the same as your setup but I think the idea is the same.







HTH

[untamed]

If you placed only 1 gate valve on the exit of the skimmer, then the water levels in the skimmer and the overflow box would always match...requiring the skimmer to be exactly the right height. Two valves is the way to go. Then, you have indendent control over the water height in the skimmer and over the water height in the overflow box.

The limit, however, is that you will not be able to drive the water height in the skimmer HIGHER than the water height in the overflow box. If your skimmer is too tall, it won't work because you might not be able to get the water high enough in the skimmer body to make the skimmer function properly. So...you can make a skimmer too tall, but not too short.

That is the issue I'm having. I will require the skimmer to be shortened from spec in order for my gravity feed to work.

[Delphinus]

That's sort of what I was thinking too, untamed. My plan is just to build a table or shelf for the skimmer that will sit next to the overflow (since the back of the tank will be a tank room anyhow, it doesn't "need" to be under the stand). So the real trick will be finding the right height for the skimmer table, might need some trial and error.