Sump questions

[fishyone]

I have recently been given a 75 gallon oceanic tank with an internal overflow box. It included a Reef Lake wet/dry filter. My LFS told me to set it up as a wet/dry using bio-balls but seems like many people don't like them because of nitrate problems. Could I use this wet/dry as a simple sump and just put s protein skimmer in there and leave it at that for filtration (with a little live sand and maybe lR). This tank is in an office and so I want maintenance to be simple apossible (I already have a tank at home to work on on weekends) I have considered capping the overflow and just using a hang on skimmer since I am worried about flooding the office since I am new to using overflows. Any suggestions would be appreciated. P.S. AM trying to have a FOWLR with maybe some mushrooms.

 

[mr . salty]

The only way to really garentee this setupwill work without bioballs,or other bio media is to provide plenty of biofilteration via live rock and live sand...This means at least 5"of live sand,,,and 1-2lbs of live rock per gallon of tank...
This will be an expensive setup,,,but definatly a nice one...
Not to worry about the built in overflows..They are a breeze.Much easier to manage than boxes....
So I say go for it,,,with the skimmer in the sump...
Or how about turning the sumpinto a REFUGIUM...Just replace the return pump with a less powerfull one to get the flow down to about 75GPH or less...Then put sand,,rubble rock,,and lots of macro algae in there...

 

[fishyone]

Thanks for the advice. I had planned to put the LR and LS into the tank and was unsure whether to put into the sump (as well)or not. I like the refugium idea and will probably do some research on that as well. Unfortunatley my LFS is pretty outdated and when I told them I wanted a 4- 6" sand bed they freaked out. Some of their advice is reasonable but alot is outdated. If I did the refugium where can In get macroalgae? A couple of more questions, do I need the 5 inches of live sand all at once or can I use "dead sand as the base and seed it with live sand as long as its 5" deep. Second, I think I have seen in some of your other posts that you use custom skimmers. If so, were they DIY. I have seen lots of info about building them but wondered what you would recommend, Thanks