sump or refugium? which is better?

[darkslayer414]

i am making a 90 gallon reef tank and i am researching sumps and refugiums but i can't tell which one would be better for me. what do you guys use and what would you recommend?
i plan on keeps sps corals, claims, soft corals, and i would like to have about 4 big fish(5+ inches) and 10 or so smaller(.5-4 inches) ones if that makes a difference...please help!! i am at a standstill with my tank until then...i also plan on having about 150 pds of live rock

 

[spanko]

First a definition of sorts.
Sump - an area of extra water volume that can hold the equipment that you do not want in the display tank. (heaters, skimmers, automatic top-off floats etc, etc,)
Refugium - an area of extra water volume that is designed as a refuge for things to grow outside of the display tank. ( pods, macro algae for nutrient uptake, hitch hiker critters too dangerous to be in the display tank but cool or beneficial in other ways)
The best would be a combination of the two, this is done very often.
Hope that helps a little.

 

[devil dog]

BOTH... I would look for a sump with a Refugium in it...

 

[darkslayer414]

i am not very handy at making my own kind of things...i know i couldn't do a DIY sump...so i was looking at ones you can buy online. is there a certain brand that has both a sump and refugium in it? it looks like the berlin models are the best but it doesn't say if it's both a refugium and sump...any advice would be helpful thanks

 

[tizzo]

Awesome definition Spanko!!
Darkslayer, if a fuge is what you want there are a lot of pics in the DIY forum here...

 

[darkslayer414]

ooo a fuge...sump/fuge...i can't believe i missed that ahahah...thanks but again im not all to handy i will just to try buy a new/used one online...what is a recommened size a fuge for a 90 gallon tank? bigger the better i suppose?