Sump / Refugium Sizing Advice

[our6pack]

I've got a 120 gal that's 48x24x24 with a stand the same size. I'm trying to fit everything underneath. I purchased a skimmer yesterday without thinking about size because it was such a good deal (Reeflo Orca 200). Because this skimmer is external my space for a sump / refugium shrank big time. So my question is do you think a 26x16x14 with a volume of 25 gal will be enough? Thanks in advance.

[noboddi]

If you put the sump in before the tank is setup, you can drop it in from the top. 26g may be enough, but bigger is better IMO. The more water in the system the better. And the bigger the refugium the better. Some public aquariums do refugiums in a 1:1 ratio with the displays. I don't know any aquarist who does that, but it is food for thought

[bergzy]

if your refugium is just for growing out macroalgae, then i found for my 250g net adjusted volume tank (350g volume system), a 5g bucket receiving 600gph flow was more than sufficient to grow chaetomorpha.

i agree that you would want as much water volume as possible just because there are so many benefits. stable parameters etc.

the 5g fuge/macro grow out is just for that...growing out macro. i do not put any lr rubble or sad in there. that is not my intention. for me, the fuges where lr rubble and sand was use, it just became a smelly settling chamber.

pod growth for a refugium? yeah sure that is a great benefit. but i found that my main display (180g) has more than sufficient rock to support 2 wrasses and a very fat mandarin.

post a pic oif your set up. a pic definitely helps in explaining and conveying! :)

[Bamm Bamm]

a 40g breeder would work really nice for that foortprint tank I had one of my 90g and it worked great