fuge question

[sanababit]

hello fellow reefers, got a question, i have a 10 gal fuge going and i was wondering in i can install the skimmer and heater in there, skimmer will be in the intake coming from main tank and heater will be where the return pump is, will this work, i want to get almost all equipment from main display, thanks

sana

[NeveSSL]

You will probably want to separate the two. Depends on what you have in your refugium.

From what I've seen, you would want to place your equipment in the "sump". The refugium does only as its name implies, provides a refuge for different forms of life. :) I think the reason you would want to separate the two is because people often put sand in their refugiums, and you certainly don't want any getting into your pumps or messing with any other equipment. Also, you may or may not want all of the flow through the refugium, so you can have the return in the middle, refugium on one side of it and the sump with equipment on the other.

See this link for an example of what I'm talking about: http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/glass/

Hope this helps!

Brandon

[alkataz]

You don't want the high flow from your skimmer going through your fuge. You want slow flow through there, but not so slow as to create dead spots

[papagimp]

Depending on the load coming into the sump, the water level in that particular chamber could fluctuate a bit, which would effect skimmer effectiveness. I had one hanging on the back of my fuge, in the actual fuge compartment along with a heater stuck in there before. It worked okay, I just didn't like having to reach to get the skimmer cup off.....an spill it as I was removing it from under my stand.