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stephan 
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 Topic: sump questions
Posted: January 19 2006 at 10:35am |
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Is it really a problem to have the skimmer between the refugium and the
return. I heard it skims out the good stuff the refugium is supposed to
supply to the tank, but I don't feel like making a whole seperate
compartment for the skimmer and splitting the flow and all that. I just want
to set the skimmer in the return reservoir area for simplicity and for a larger
refugium. If it's worthwhile I can do either one.
Any opinions?
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Stephan Lovstedt
Camarillo, CA
65 Gallon Glass
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Connie
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 10:42am |
I wouldnt. As long as you have your ref sectioned off so your plants cant float over & clog your return pump you should be fine. Your ref will hold all the good and and ugly. My skimmer is in the same compartment as my return pump and the auto top off.
Edited by Connie
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I have flying monkeys and I'm not afraid to use them.
180 gallon money pit that I love.....
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KeoDog
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 11:14am |
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I think it works fine either way.
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Kevin Kunz (Sandy, UT)
300g reef
"A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud." Ayn Rand
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stephan
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 2:42pm |
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What about flow. Do I need to split it so water in the refugium part is slower than the full force of the return pump?
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Stephan Lovstedt
Camarillo, CA
65 Gallon Glass
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peiji
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 5:11pm |
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that's what I've been told so that's what I did but I'm not even sure why. I've
seen tons of different sump/refugium designs. I'm not sure what the rhyme
and reason is to doing it differently in so many different ways.
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Jared Page
Highland, UT
Graphic Designer
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 9:25pm |
A skimmer sitting in the path between the Refugium and the return pump cannot skim all the water leaving the refugium. A good design has most of the refugium water moving around/past the skimmer pump and heading to the main tank.
Effectiveness and design of a Refugium depends on your reason for having one. What is the speed and amount of flow you are thinking of, in what size of Refugium? Can you give some details?
Personally, I believe in higher flow than is traditionally seen in Refugiums, even mine! To a point, the faster the water flows past the Macroalgae the faster it grows and removes nutrients.
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jfinch
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Posted: January 19 2006 at 9:32pm |
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My refugium see full flow from my Velocity T4 pump. It then flows into a section that has both my skimmer and return pump. I don't know which is better or worse. The way I have mine set up works for me, but I'm pretty sure I could do better in my refugium.
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stephan
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Posted: January 21 2006 at 1:43am |
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Mark- here's some details
The sump is going to be 27"x15"x15" which is about 25 gallons, 10 gallons
or so of which will be refugium (15x12x12 deep). That's as big as I can fit
under my stand.
I have a Little Giant external pump (model 3-MDQX-SC?) that does just
under 800 gph I think. It's a 100 gallon aquarium by the way.
Right now I use a bucket of bioballs, and the water around the bucket
doesn't seem to move that fast through the sump, although that would
probably change when the water just dumps right into the sump.
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Stephan Lovstedt
Camarillo, CA
65 Gallon Glass
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 21 2006 at 2:34pm |
What is your reason for having a Refugium?
Are you planning to keep the bioballs? Where are they now? Where will they be located in the new setup?
Can you show us a drawing?
BTW, I would not make the sump/refugium so tall that you cannot get in to work on it. Shallow refugiums work great and give ample space for your arms and head. 
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stephan
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Posted: January 23 2006 at 10:37am |
I wanted a refugium for macroalgae and a DSB to help out with algae in the main tank, and in hopes that it would provide better water quality for soft corals which I'm starting to add to my tank.
I hadn't planned on keeping the bioballs. Right now they are in a 5 gallon bucket inside my tupperware sump. The water goes over a filter pad, trickles over the balls and then there's a skimmer in the sump with the return.
Maybe I can post pictures later from school. It's been problematic with my Mac at home for some reason.
Edited by stephan
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Stephan Lovstedt
Camarillo, CA
65 Gallon Glass
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