Best Sump Design

[itri4ever]

I know there are a lot of opinions out there on the "proper" sump design. Just wondering if we can narrow these down to determine a "best" sump design. I plan on building a sump for my cube build in the near future, and trying to plan out the sump.

What is the best place to put the refuge?
H2O from tank--->skimmer--->return--->fuge or
H2O from tank--->skimmer--->fuge--->return
H2O from tank--->fuge--->skimmer--->return

I know there are lots of ways to design one but I hear so many contradicting theories on a fuge should not be fed with skimmed water, or they should be fed off the return pump at a slower water turn over, or they should have high water turnover. There is just so much confusing info out there, looking for some quality input from people that have been in the field for a long time. Thank you for all your time!

[FranktheTankTx]

IF you are going to do a refugium - I would do:

Skimmer - Return - Refugium

T off the return & feed the Refugium with return water. I do not like drain from DT entering refugium.

Just one of many ways.

[SGT_York]

You certainly won't get a uniform response on this one. IME tank to fuge results in sediments that are a pain to clean. After the skimmer or after the return pump makes no difference as both are fed with water after the skimmer the return pump does nothing to the quality of the water. I prefer the skimmer fuge simple due to electricity efficiencies. That means a high volume turnover which the only issues I've heard were with algae entering the final section of the sump which can be easily avoided with egg crate or a simple screen.

skimmer, fuge, return or skimmer, return, fuge both have a multitude of success stories. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

[itri4ever]

Thank you for your input. Now lets start the discussion on whether a high turnover or a slow turnover for a fuge is better than the other.

[SGT_York]

Honestly I've never actually seen so much as a hint that it made a difference. I love the people that swear by low turnover and put a powerhead in there!

[dattack]

I prefer a separate fuge to the sump. Can be taken offline if you decide to not need it or clean it later.

[RocketEngineer]

I like skimmer->return<-refugium because it allows my refugium baffle to be the tallest in the sump, therefore giving my cheato more room to grow before it gets problematic. JMO.

[DrBoxedWine]

I wouldn't change a thing about my sump. The false bottom might be tough in a DIY setup, but here's a look at what i have, it might give you some ideas.<br />
<br />
http://************.com/2014/03/04/fluid-designers-big-splash-suite-acrylic-designs/<br/>

[Aww7979]

I have a 90 with a 30 gallon sump. Mine goes skimmer, fuge, return. My bio pellets and gfo reactors, and auto top off are in the last compartment with the return pump. My fuge area is about 18x18x18. A mag 9.5 is my return pump, so

I have about 800 GPH moving through my sump.

I love the creativeness we put in our sumps. This is what I would change.

1) I don't run socks and I want to. Large particulate clogs my skimmer and reactor intakes. So in my new sump, I'll run socks.

2) The water enters my fuge at the top of the area, and leaves from the top, so the majority of the water just moves just across the top of the fuge area. In my new sump I am making the water enter the bottom and leave the top. I'm trying to get more water to move through my chato.

3) Not enough room for live rock. I want to get away from just a pile of rock in my tank. So, I need more room in my sump for rock. In the new sump I'm going to switch to those ceramic blocks instead of live rock. More surface area in a smaller space.

4) Just more space. I struggle to find places to to put bags of charcoal or anything else like it. If it's easier to work in, I'm more likely to keep things clean.

I just bought a 180 and I'm about to start building my new sump. This drawing is not to scale but close and it contains my new ideas.
I am also adding a display fuge to handle most of the filtration, the chato in my drawing is just to supplement filtration. There for I'm not worried if I throw away good things in my filter socks.

The new system will be chato fuge/sediment chamber - filter socks - skimmer/ceramic bio media area - return.

I'm planing around 1500 GPH with about 500 GPH going to the display fuge.

[d2mini]

I'm going with a Berlin style sump this time with connected refugium.
http://lifereef.com/berlin.html

[SaltTinker]

Got 3 pumps in my sump.

I use the built-in overflows in my Oceanic 180g with dual Dursos as my refugiums with a little sand and small pieces of LR at at the bottom. The Dursos overflows into a 90g farming supply tub.

The skimmer is fed from the sump and returns to the sump.

Also got another pump (mag7) going through a UV filter (on a 12h timer) into a 30g breeder frag tank, then overflow into a 29g (detritus settles here) then back into the sump.