Sump / Refugium Design & Flow Dispute

[pmcustom]

Ok, first of all I want to apologize if this subject has been beaten to death. I need some clarification here. I know there's a million ways to do everything, and every different way has pros and cons, but I can't come up with a good answer about sump/refugium design. I've heard one argument that high flow (10x-20x sump volume) is necessary to bring nutrients to the macroalgae and get better export, but then the refugium isn't exactly ideal for copepod, etc... propagation with that high flow. Then there's the opposite theory that it should be very low flow, which is supposedly ideal for the copepods, etc... but not for the macro. Also, I've heard conflicting info about feeding the skimmer with raw tank water or feeding the refuge with it. What gives? Are there pros/cons for going one way or the other, or even both? It makes sense to slow down the flow through the sump, for noise and filtration reasons. Would it be the best of both worlds to have 2 seperate fuges: 1 for macro with high flow, and 1 with rock rubble/pile and low flow for copepods, etc...? Or is it not worth the trouble if the main tank has plenty of LR? I don't even want to go into the DSB theory in the refugium...Again, sorry for the long post. I'm sure I'm kicking a dead horse, but any help would be appreciated.

[bergzy]

here is a great thread on fuge, flow and function...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=462212

the three 'f's!!!:)

[pmcustom]

How's this sound: One five gallon high-flow section for the macroalgae and another five gallon section, only low-flow, for the refugium. This way you get the best of both worlds...enough flow for the algae, and enough shelter for the pod population. Or am I splitting hairs here?

[bergzy]

to me, it sounds like you are splitting hairs.

i have done the slow flow through fugium thing...

the result is a really good settling chamber for all your nasty crud.

if you have something like chaetomorpha as macro and have it tumbling in a ball...the pods should congregate in there.

dont believe me?

when you go and trim your chaeto....

give it a good shake in the water...tons and tons of pods coming out of it. the corals go nuts when i do this.

here is my refugium set up...far from ideal. it is meant to be a live rock filter with approx 2000gph or so. the chaeto receives the seio flow directly but can't get the chaeto to tumble.

i still get a lot great growth with a ton of pods.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/2005-12-30CA.jpg

[pmcustom]

Thanks for the help.

[johns]

sorry, off-topic

bergzy - what sort of fan do you have up on top of your fuge there and where did you get it? Is it sitting right down on the eggcrate?

I have been struggling lately with my fuge fan placement, so I'm just interested.

[bergzy]

the fan is a vornado.

http://www.vornado.com/

and it is an incredibly powerful fan for its size...plus, it has a 'lifetime' warranty which i havent had to use yet! :)

you can get it at costco in the summer months and i have seen them in home depot in the summer.

it sits on top of eggcrate and from the pic, you can see that it is very close to the water for very effective evap cooling.

the fan is connected to a medusa temp controller to go off at 78 degrees. the sump and lr filter is in my garage, so in gets toasty in the summer. that is why i have another temp controller set at 80 connected to a 1/2 hp chiller.

the fuge is made of eggcrate i made myself. i just measured the opening and used wirecutters to cut the eggcrate to size. i tied the eggcrate together with zip tie and left the 'front' able to 'swing' open.

i made the fuge small as to contain the chaeto in a small area. also, i wanted as close to the surface as possible to get the most intense light as possible.

i then aim a seio 820 at the chaeto for gentle yet high flow.

i like your glass half empty half full answer...

my answer to ding dongs that ask this is:

'it is half full when you're pouring water into for me and it is half empty when i am drinking from it'.