Any purpose for sump wall in Red Sea 250G2 if you don't have a refugium?

[Ironic_Water]

I was looking at some people's Red Sea sump setups here, and I just realized you can actually setup a wall in the sump in between the pump return chamber and the filter sock chamber. I never put mine in, but I was wondering if it has any purpose if I don't have a refugium?

I have a skimmer there, so the skimmer would be in a sort of intermediate chamber (creating a chamber before the filter sponge going into the pump return chamber).

The only benefit to this wall I can think of is that the baffle letting water through might aerate the water a smidge, but the protein skimmer I have should be doing that to a much greater degree.

Long story short - refugium baffle wall when you don't have a refugium, yay or nay?

 

[TheBear78]

No need if there is nothing to separate or you don't have any equipment that requires a consistent water level.
Where is your ATO sensor/valve?

 

[peterhos]

Can I join in here please. I have the same Red Sea Reefer G2 250. I removed the sock tray and squeezed in the skimmer and roller mat…a tight fit. Is there any point in the sponge baffle? If you remove the sponge baffle section would the water level be steady everywhere? Am I missing something here? If the water level was level would the skimmer be easier to adjust once and then just leave?

 

[TheBear78]

During operation the water level should stay consistent in every chamber except the return* where the ATO sensor/float valve is typically positioned. The baffles essentially set the water level in the preceding chamber and the return chamber should then be the only place where evaporation registers a drop.

*Anything in the same chamber as the return pump may see a small fluctuation in water level as the evaporation is maintained by the ATO but it depends on the Sensitivity/accuracy of the ATO system.

Some removable baffles may not completely seal the chamber but while flowing I would expect them to work the same.
Having a smaller return chamber means that the water level drops more for the same amount of evaporation. This might help some ATO systems operate better but I'm not sure.