Got me a new Sump/Refugium

[gen1dustin]

Well yesterday my custom built sump came in finally. I had waited on this thing forever. Horrible dealing with the guy who made it & took forever. I kind of jumped into because he acted like he could get it to me fast, which he extremley failed to do so.
Here's the deal, the water flows in over a tray with a filter pad drops down from there into the refugium. After that the water flows into the protien skimmer area, then into bubble traps & to the return area & back to the tank.
Now I realize that the best way would be for the protien skimmer to be before the refugium. But unfortunately it is not & I can't change it around because the big bulky Coralife SS 220 won't fit into the first compartment. It already here & setup so it ain't going anywheres, plus I spent $300 on this so I can't get a new one. So I know that this is not the best way to have it setup, but won't it be suffice, though? I'm not really looking for growing pods. I'm looking for filtration & control ph swings at night. Though every single pod couldn't get sucked up by the skimmer anyway. So some would make it into the tank. I'm not asking if this is setup the right way, because I know how it should be, but its to late. It should be suffice, especially for what I'm looking out of it though, right?
Thanks in advance.

 

[gen1dustin]

Well nevermind because I was able to fit the simmer into the first area after messing with it some.

 

[trainfever]

Put the macroalgae in the first chamber. This would be your refugium. Then I would put the skimmer in the middle chamber. You dont want the skimmer in the last chamber because that would deplete the reason for having the baffles. The baffles keep the bubbles from being pumped back into your tank. Yoa also dont want your skimmer in the same compartment as your macro because the macro would get sucked into your skimmer pump.

 

[gen1dustin]

You mis-understood me. Originally it was going refugium -> skimmer -> return. Problem is a lot of the pods will get sucked up by the skimmer. I was able to make it go skimmer ->refugium -> return now.

Yes the bio-balls are going to be removed slowly over a course of time.

 

[trainfever]

The skimmer has to be after the refugium or it will be removing the beneficial things out of the water that is needed by the refugium.

 

[gen1dustin]

Originally Posted by trainfever
The skimmer has to be after the refugium or it will be removing the beneficial things out of the water that is needed by the refugium.
Most people will say the opposite, which is the reason I changed it around. I do think that some take it out of proportion though that every single pod will get sucked up by the skimemr being after the fuge.

 

[earlybird]

Nice sump/fuge. Question: You have the skimmer "in sump." The directions for my SS65 call for the water level to be no more that 3-4" max above the skimmer intake. I don't know if the directions are different for your model but it appears to me that your intake for skimmer is more than 3-4" below water line. I'm actually going to create a new thread on this issue. How would this affect the skimmers function?

 

[earlybird]

What did it cost to get that beast built?

 

[gen1dustin]

If it is over that level you use the 3.5" tube instead of the 8". It costed $300, but horrible experience with the guy I ordered it from.

 

[beth]

Please don't post links to other sites. Thanks.

 

[gen1dustin]

Originally Posted by Beth
Please don't post links to other sites. Thanks.
I didn't post a link, simply quoted something from another site & gave them their proper respect their article deserved.