Refugium/Sump Help?

[dougs280z]

I am trying to rebuild my 29gallon reef tank that was recently destroyed by overgrowth of hair algae. I have been cooking the rocks for a while and gathering pieces to start it back up. This time, I plan on having a sump/refugium with a skimmer (didn't have one before) and whatever else that can help prevent the hair from forming again. Anyway, I have been searching for a while and am still unclear on what to do. I have read posts that say to not put any sand in it, some that say a deep bed of sand in the middle, some that say live rock with the skimmer, some with the LR in the middle. My sump is a 20gallon long tank. I have the first section with about an 8" piece of plastic with a rectangle cut out, then the middle section, then 8" high piece followed by one slightly held off the bottom, followed by one 8" high again. My main questions are:

First section - Protein skimmer for sure. LR or no LR in this section? Powerhead?
Middle section - Sand bed or no sand bed? LR also? Powerhead? I don't plan on growing any plants and am not that concerned about coepods right now.
Any filter material in the up/down part?
Anything in the return section other than pump?

Main concern is to just make my system run cleaner with less chance of breakouts like I had in the past. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[eric b 125]

A pic might help... In my sumps I have a skimmer chamber (skimmer only), a refugium where I keep LR (or LR rubble) and chaeto and my heaters, and in the return chamber I keep my return pump, ato sensors, and feed pumps for my gfo and calcium reactors.