Several questions and help....again

[snagged by reef]

Hey guys and gals,

i have a couple of questions for everyone:

1. is a ref sump the way to go?

2. can i use my protein skimmer to draw water back to main tank?

3. can someone explain to me the process of how a sump works and maybe even a simple diagram of one with labels and setup?

4. do blue legged hermits eat coraline algae?

5. without a picture, can someone identify this tube thing attached to the trunk part of one of my candy cane corals? it started small but has grown over the last 4 or 5 months. it looks like it has two antennae sticking out the hole at the end of the tube. i think its a worm of some sort but just worried if it will hurt the coral!!

Thank you very much guys. i know its alot to answer so any inout would be great. the most important to me is the explaination and diagram of the sump, if its the way to go. right now i have a canister and am starting to think its not the was to go. im just using it now as a water conditioner and power head(lololol)

Thanks again guys!!!!!

[crumbletop]

http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

[fisher1234]

1. Sump/fuge way to go with skimmer. Sump can hide heater but is also rele good for gas exchange.
2. Dont think so.
3. Mines simple. Water drains in section with skimmer. Flow over filter pads/carbon rings. Return pump pumps water back in to tank.
4. Dont think so
5. R u sure its not a branck of the coral growing?

[snagged by reef]

bump

[Sk8r]

skimmer takes and returns water inside sump, closed loop.
your two-tentacled worm is a harmless nuisance.

If you want to have corals, just avoid sponges and filters in the sump: nitrate problems.
Water flows into chamber 1, over a barrier to chamber 2, which can be a refugium, or a skimmer chamber. Then into a little heater chamber, and finally into the return pump chamber which shoots it up to the display again. You can vary the placement of the skimmer pump, including setting it on top of the sump, to free up room for a refugium, if you have the right kind of skimmer. I do that with an Aqua C EV 120, and pipe the outflow back to chamber 1, just to give it an extra runthrough, while my intake pump for the skimmer is in chamber 4. It's all user-defined, but you definitely need an inflow chamber and a return chamber, a place for your heater, and some arrangement for your skimmer and skimmer pump. Skimmers tend to overflow when stressed, so I have mine sitting on a grid above the sump, so if it spits, it spits into the tank, not onto the floor.