diy sump question

[sausageman]

At the moment I have an acrylic sump made a while ago that goes in the order of skimmer section/return pump/refugium.. the overflow splits to feed the skimmer side and the refeguim... now at the moment with no skimmer it doesnt seem to be a problem.. and flow seems to be spread out evenly.. but I am in the process of setting up a SW tank for a friend and we are using an old 29 gallon for a sump, is it better to split the overflow to go into the skimmer section and refugium, like my current set up, or would it be better to have the overflow go to the skimmer and split the return line to go into the skimmer..

Or should i just go with Skimmer > Refugium > Return?

From what i've understood having the skimmer and refugium use the same water defeats the purpose of the previous one some what?

I guess another option would to be to drill for 2 overflows? but this is a simple 29 gallon tank setup with a 29 gal tank used as sump, Im thinking 2 overflows would be a little overkill..

any feedback helps, thanks

[Tim224DT]

What are you using the fuge for in your sump setup will help answer this question.


Tim

[sausageman]

Macro algae mainly, havent decided if there will be a DSB, the usual, for pods and other things to hang out.

[Geoff]

i would not even have a fuge and use the empty area as a settling tank. much more usefull. no sense in deluding yourself into thinking that nutrients just dissappear because of the refugium. try it empty for a bit. notice how much detritus settles out over a weeks time. this will give you an idea on how much nutrients are actually getting sucked up into refugium, just to be released later, when you do not want them to.

i would go drain w/skimmer, then empty section for settling, then the return section.

G~