Sump/Refugium

I use the screw in type that replaces a normal light bulb over my refugium.  It is a Commercial Electric brand.  Its output is 65000k and the package it comes in is blue. I believe it is called a daylight bulb.  I purchased it at Home Depot and it works great.

The reason I wouldn't want the skimmer after the fuge is there would be less of a chance of the "bugs" from the fuge getting caught in the skimmer.  The real appeal (to me) of using a refugium is all the mini/macro life abundant in the fuge that works it's way into the main tank.  Any biofiltration would be secondary.  In my ideal world, my refugium would be elevated above the main tank and gravity back, eliminating the return pump.

I like Kahuna's sump.  The skimmer bypasses the 'fuge and it's simple.

hmm, maybe I go overkill on circulation, but I've got a Rio2100 on my 20 gallon tank that I wish I'd bought a 2500 instead.

Kahuna. You have the exact tank I have and I'm trying to do a setup right now. I have an overflow and sump and that's it. I would love to see pics of your setup and tank. The light suggestion sounds like a good one too.

could you be a little more specific about the lights at Home Depot you are referring to? Do they have a specific brand? Are they pcs that come with a ballast? How much are they?

Yes the Lights of America lights are what I typically use.  Fixtures are like $30 or $40 for the larger ones.  They wire straight into a regular 120V, no ballast necessary.  They are actually fixtures to put outside on your house.  Somewhat common lights, many people use them on their tanks.  In fact I ran my 35 gal for 5 years with only these lights. 

Anyway, hope this helps

Adam

I just use flexible tubing.  I seem to move things around alot.   I do plan to change to PVC eventually.  I get home Friday night. I'll take photos Sat. and send them then.  What part of the valley are you in.  You are always welcome to come by and check my system out.

 

I'm in Sandy.

Hey, since you all helped in designing this sump, I'll post a few pictures of the progress here.

Here's the sump just before gluing on the bottom.

 

I am wondering if the refugium would be a good place to ban my crabs?  I'm kind of sick of them constantly eating my snails no matter what I do, extra shells, nori and so on.  Would they wipe out a pod population in a refugium though?  Pod growth is part of the reason I want the refugium and don't want to wipe them out with the crabs.

I sure don't see them touching much of my algae.  Honestly I really don't!  They very rarely ever leave my dsb.  I just put in probably 25 different sized shells, a piece of nori and then added 25 Mexican Turbos - I kid you not within 2 hours they killed and ate 3 of the turbos and left the nori alone.  I know that the Turbos were fine because I had them in my sump for about a week before moving them to the main tank.  I like watching the crabs but I am wondering more and more of what benefit they really do provide.  Any ideas?