Sump and protein skimmer advice

[Partsman41953]

Hello,

I am in the process of setting up a 90 gallon aquarium which is going to house mostly soft coral and fish and I need advice on how to set up a sump and protein skimmer. My 28 gallon aquarium has a HOB protein skimmer but this is my first time working with a drilled tank with a sump. My questions are: would I be better off just purchasing the sump and skimmer and if so which ones would you recommend. I was looking at either a Reef Octopus NWB150 or Aqua Maxx ConeS CO-1 for a skimmer. I was also considering building a sump but have no clue how to go about doing this. I am trying to keep the costs down as much as possible. My last question, right now, is how do you go about plumbing the aquarium with the sump?

Again, I would appreciate any help you could offer.

Thanks

[Terrance]

Manufactured sumps are a lot more expensive, but you can buy one if you don't want to take the time to research some basic DIY sump. Time is money
I have no recommendation for a manufactured sump, so you might have to do some online googling or wait for someone to reply to this post. Most people buy a skimmer first, then build the sump around the skimmer. If you buy a sump, then you will have to find a skimmer that fits your sump.

As for design, you can split into the common 3 chambers with baffles in between each chamber. First chamber is the drain line, second can be for whatever you want, and third chamber is return pump. The third chamber is where you will see the evaporation, so the water line will drop and you will have to top off manually or buy an auto top off. I prefer to place my skimmer in first chamber. Baffles are to help bubbles from drain line and skimmer dissipate before reaching the return pump.

Plumbing can be very basic as well. Use PVC pips to connect to your fitting. For your small tank, I'd think the return line to be 0.5" and drain line to be 1-1.5".

Post for clarifications or questions.