skimmer/refugium help

[kysalty]

I am in the process of setting up my first reef tank and I have a question about my setting up my skimmer and refugium. In an attempt to minimize skimming the same water, is it ok have the return of the skimmer emptying into the fuge section of my sump?

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv1/mjohnson502/CIMG0430.jpg

Please excuse the holes in the pvc, it is scrap pvc. If this works i was planning to set it up like this

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv1/mjohnson502/CIMG0434.jpg

Is it ok to cut off the factory T (shown below) and replace it with the gate valve set up shown above? Or do I have to leave the infamous red knob in place?

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv1/mjohnson502/utf-8BSU1HMDAwNDQuanBn.jpg

[thegrun]

If I am following your question correctly, you would dump the discharge from your skimmer into the refugium, which is fine, but then will your return pump sit in the refugium? If so, you will need to figure a way to keep the return from sucking up cheato (assuming you will have cheato in the fuge. You may have micro bubble issues also without a set of baffles between the skimmer discharge and the return pump.

[lordofthereef]

Isn't your refugium being given first shot at cleaning the water, or is your refugium AFTER your skimmer. I would put my refugium before all else, personally. Also, unless your water flow through the sump is really limited, you won't truly end up skimming the "same water" very much at all

[tat2shawn]

It is to my understanding that ideally you would want water straight from your display tank to go to the fuge and then go to the return pump, not the skimmer section.
You do not want the only water going to the fuge to be previously skimmed.
You may want to set up a third section in that sump for the return.

The partition in your sump look like it goes almost all the way to the top. with out any other way for it to excape. Are you keeping the return pump in the skimmer scetion? I think a bit more info of what you are looking to do will be needed.

[kysalty]

The return pump would be on the left side of the sump/fuge (top picture) with the skimmer. On the sump side I envisioned having some sort of bubble tower for the drain from the tank, the skimmer, and pump for return to tank. The right side would be the fuge section housing cheato, lr and sand with water from the discharge of the skimmer dumping into it.

[tat2shawn]

what I see as a viable option for you is having the return section in the middle of the sump, just split your drain line and use a ball valve on the fuge side to slow the flow down a bit.
Also check out this link.

http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html

[tat2shawn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15746135#post15746135 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kysalty
The return pump would be on the left side of the sump/fuge (top picture) with the skimmer. On the sump side I envisioned having some sort of bubble tower for the drain from the tank, the skimmer, and pump for return to tank. The right side would be the fuge section housing cheato, lr and sand with water from the discharge of the skimmer dumping into it.
This would not be your best option. For doing a skimmer and a fuge. Your going to need 3 sections to do it right.

[jenglish]

you want the skimmer before the fuge. Skimmed water will not have particles in it to build up and cause as many problems as the fuge solves. If you are skimming after the fuge you eliminate any beneficial critters coming from the fuge to your DT. A sump should go skimmer, fuge, return sections.

[drillsar]

When I had my 55 gallon tank I had two Drains one to skimmer section the other to fuge.

I had this:

One pipe to Skimmer (Left Side), Return Middle, One Pipe to fuge with Ball valve (Right Side)

Basically if you skimmer the fuge wont get the nasty stuff it needs to survive I was told so I basically took my overflow and split it in 2 so I can control flow tofuge as well.

Hope this makes sense

[kysalty]

I'm using a 20 High for the sump/fuge so I don't really have room to do the three sections (don't want to run the skimmer externally, in case of overflow). Would the current set up work if I split the drain from display to go to fuge side and skimmer/return pump side?

[tat2shawn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15746320#post15746320 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kysalty
I'm using a 20 High for the sump/fuge so I don't really have room to do the three sections (don't want to run the skimmer externally, in case of overflow). Would the current set up work if I split the drain from display to go to fuge side and skimmer/return pump side?
IMO You would be better off doing this. I still do not see how the water from the fuge side makes it back to the return side. In that pic its hard to tell, but it looks like the divider goes all the way to the top of the tank. I think it should be lower than it is.

[thegrun]

I would drain the tank into the skimmer section first (move the skimmer into the right side if it fits, or move the divider to shrink the skimmer section to the smallest size possible). The skimmer will function much better if it gets its water before it goes through the refugium. Then move the return pump into the refugium section. Install a removable egg crate divider horizontally just above the return pump. Then use cheato that would sit on top of the egg crate above the pump. You would have to adjust the flow/top off in the return to keep at least 4" of water above the egg crate so the cheato stays in water. I would also use black acrylic as the divider to minimize the amount of light that would bleed over into the skimmer section to reduce algae growth there.

[gerryo]

Your skimmer does NOT skim all of the water going through that section. Some of the crud will be left over for the little lads in the fuge. Then it is easier to vacuum out anything that precipitates.