question about refuges

[ohio reefer]

i just got done reading the refugium article and i have a question? (which was very good might i add)

I'm making my own from an aqarium I understand that i nees aprximatly 22gal of refuge for my 110gal tank. (20% of 110 =22).

The entering water from the tank should be in a seperate compartment prior to the fuge. should i use a sponge or floss to capture the large pieces, or will this catch all the good things that your tank needs and ruin the whole purpose of having the fuge? would this be where i would place activated charcoal?

After the fuge it should go into a sump that in turn returns the water to the main tank. Is this where i put my protein skimmer, heater, or will this filter or hurt the the "goodies" also? or should i have a seperat sump? that would take a lot of room.

thanks in advance, i know its a lot of quetions

mark

[ohio reefer]

can anyone answer?

please.

[Hara]

My refugium is part of my sump..my protein skimmer is on the water return side of the divider and the heater is in with the planted side. I do not have prefilters on mine.
hth

[ohio reefer]

thanks hara

[fishfreek]

I dont see any problem with the skimmer being in the sump after the fuge.

Having the fuge in line with the sump might cause the flow rate to be a bit to fast to make the fuge be efficent. Having the fuge on its own circulation system out of the sump and return back to the sump might be a more optimal setup since you have more control over the flow rate.

[BillyZ]

just a quick comment. The 20% note is more of a minimum reccomendation than an exact amount. So as long as you have at least 22 gallons you should be ok.

[NaH2O]

This site has some great articles! I read through the refug. and also the one on sumps - great info. I plan on having my refug. above my tank and gravity fed back (for a couple of reasons, which I won't go into here). Anyway, if you are having trouble visualizing how the water flows into a sump, here is a link that I found while researching. It created a great visual for me to understand. I hope others find it useful.... >>>Water flow in sump<<< If you scroll down, you will see the animation. There is also some additional info. you may find helpful.

[Bearfan]

Here, Here to NaH20. Good call on that article. Enjoy your 10 Kudos.

[astride13]

I put my 7 gallon refuge on a 55 gallon tank. In the last two months my ammonia and nitrites have been undetectable and my nitrates <5ppm (without water changes). Bigger is always better, but I would not put a minimum because anything is better than nothing. Low flow is the key on a refuge. I have seen the best results on a <15x an our flow, based on the refuge size. If you are using 22 gallons, I would get a pump that could move about 330gph. I let the scum build up in my refuge. It keeps it out of the tank and feeds the refuge. I do not run a skimmer because I haven't had a need for one. I prefer to let all filtration get done biologically.

[fishfreek]

The concept behind the 20% suggesion was that many times we see people putting fuges of extremly small size onto tanks. I dont know if I made the compairson or not in the article but it would be like putting a 10gal sump on a 120 gal tank. What purpose would a sump of that size surve for a tank of that size. None.