Sump configuration - refugium before or after skimmer

Reefinny

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Joe you could plumb it a few ways. You could tee off your drain with a manifold to control flow. Or you could feed it with a small sicce 1.0 or 1.5. I have a few spares I could give you.

My first pick would be tee it off the drain.

Oh yeah 3 for sure.

But you know what they say about opinions. Lol


Oh yeah by the way, I used to have a stand alone 40 breeder fuge, when I moved everything I took it offline. I think I have more pods now than then.

You going bare bottom or sand in the DT? Whoops here comes another thread!
 

ThunderGoose

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Glad to see this thread. I'm switching to Triton right now and just set up my refugium. My sump is poorly configured for Triton (RedSeaReefer 250 standard sump). If I want to be able to use socks (even just occasionally) I have to have the refugium first or the skimmer blocks access. It doesn't matter in my case because I'm just splitting the large chamber in half and both sides can flow into the return chamber.



My question: How would the pods get through the bubble filter sponge anyway? Wouldn't the refugium have to go after that?
 

mkj

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#3 is best but if not #3 then have refug first. skimmers at most take up 10% of the water that goes through skimmer chamber "most are less". Therefore, at least 90% of pods also make it past skimmer during one pass. Let the refugium or ATS do the most work.

Using skimmer to do most work is fine but old school. Using Refug to do most work is new school. Just depends where you fall. I haven't had my skimmer turned on in 2 years because my refug does all I need.
 
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lacrosseboss18

lacrosseboss18

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I went with option number 2.
I like the idea of the larger refugium water volume, less energy compared to run option number 3.
Also if I decide to go Triton I can make a few modifications.
 

Jgarcia

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i have the life reef my fuge is completely seperate. but it does run off my main return pump. skimmer is first tho
 

Byron malta

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Do you ever plan on running Triton method? If so, I would go for Option 2. According to Triton method your refugium is supposed to be 10%+ your DT water volume and should be the first chamber where you drain the water.
What is triton method?
 

Coral Newbie

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It’s funny I just ordered a crystal reef sump and asked them the same thing about putting the fuge 1st. Their logic was why not feed your fuge 1st
 

theMeat

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Skimmer, fuge, return

Skimmer gets first chance at dirtiest water, and pods don’t have to make it past the skimmer to make it to return.

The newer triton style sumps are fuge, skimmer, return, because the want you to leave sump full of macro with the logic that lower, far from light, macro will partially decay and help maintain trace elements on a triton no water change system
 

Byron malta

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Skimmer, fuge, returnC

Skimmer gets first chance at dirtiest water, and pods don’t have to make it past the skimmer to make it to return.

The newer triton style sumps are fuge, skimmer, return, because the want you to leave sump full of macro with the logic that lower, far from light, macro will partially decay and help maintain trace elements on a triton no water change system
My n03 and p04 are significantly low without macro. I use the fuge just for pods. Currently the fuge is before the skimmer. Should I place the skimmer before the fuge?
 

theMeat

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I would. This way pods from fuge don’t have to survive passing skimmer to make it to tank.

How many pods get sucked into skimmer when passing is debatable. But if they don’t have to pass it then it’s not debatable
 
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Ross Petersen

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i like option #3 I think... but with a custom sump, might even toss a roller filter in the drain line. Thoughts?!

I know that goes against the Triton gods... bud until I see a peer reviewed paper showing refugiums are superior without socks/rollers, I’ll keep a bit of healthy skepticism.
 

Ross Petersen

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Follow-up here... anyone have any updates/success/failures with whatever option they ran with?

I'm debating #2 vs. #3. How important is controlling the water flow rate through the refugium? Is running the refugium off the return manifold much of an issue in terms of having to consistently re-adjust the valves as the resistance changes to the manifold feeds?

Thanks!
 

Ross Petersen

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Do you put rock or any thing on first chammber or refug chamber?

Hey. I'm not planning on adding rock to the refugium but I'm open to this. Haven't researched this option much - but more surface for bacterial growth and stability would perhaps be wise. Thoughts?
 

bar|none

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I'm running full triton with Skimmer before Fuge and its working out well. 2 cents...

Maybe too well as my latest issue is too low N and P. My skimmer is not large though so it may be letting more through than a really powerful skimmer and I'm fine with that.

@Ross Petersen Regarding adding rock....odd sizes of rock kind of take up a lot of space for maybe not benefit or surface area. I added the 2" marine pure blocks as a bottom layer in the chaeto area of the fuge and then more in a quiet partition in the fuge and that has worked out well.
 
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