I am currently in the very early process of researching and designing my new setup. I am planning on doing a FOWLR with possiblity of adding corals later. The tank will be a 220g on the main floor of my house. My plan is to run the plumbing from the drilled overflows into the basement for the purpose of having a larger filtration setup and something easier to work on and do water changes and top offs.
I plan on having the two overflows join together under the tank before going into the basement. Once in the basement it will branch off and have one going into a 55g I plan on using as a refugium with less flow and the other going into a tub of some sort acting as the sump for skimming and any other fitlration needs.
My main issue I am having trouble wrapping my brain around is how to get the water from the refugium and sump together to go back into the display tank. I dont want to just dump the water from the refugium into the sump with the protein skimmer as this defeats the purpose of the refugium. Also since I plan on using a water trough or something similar for the sump I cannot do normal baffles. I am using the water trough so that I can have a larger sump withoug spending a fortune. I know trying to save money in this hobby is foolish, but I don't want to needless throw it away either.
Any and all suggestions, comments and opinions on this issue or my overall idea on the setup is more than welcomed. This is going to be a show piece of the house that will be around for a very long time and I want to get it right the first time.
Thanks.
I plan on having the two overflows join together under the tank before going into the basement. Once in the basement it will branch off and have one going into a 55g I plan on using as a refugium with less flow and the other going into a tub of some sort acting as the sump for skimming and any other fitlration needs.
My main issue I am having trouble wrapping my brain around is how to get the water from the refugium and sump together to go back into the display tank. I dont want to just dump the water from the refugium into the sump with the protein skimmer as this defeats the purpose of the refugium. Also since I plan on using a water trough or something similar for the sump I cannot do normal baffles. I am using the water trough so that I can have a larger sump withoug spending a fortune. I know trying to save money in this hobby is foolish, but I don't want to needless throw it away either.
Any and all suggestions, comments and opinions on this issue or my overall idea on the setup is more than welcomed. This is going to be a show piece of the house that will be around for a very long time and I want to get it right the first time.
Thanks.
