Plumbing for sump / Refugium question

[HomerJ]

Hi all:

I have a question about my sump setup.  I'm using a 20G tall tank, split in 3 chambers.  Fuge->return<-Skimmer

First, I have 2 overflows in my tank. Here's how they are plumbed:

• The main one drains to the skimmer area and I'd say it handles 95% of the total flow (full siphon).  It is below the water surface in the main tank.
• The second overflow drains directly in the fuge, and handles whatever the main drain doesn't handle.  It can take a lot more flow than it currently sees so it also acts as a backup should anything happen to the main drain.  It is at the water surface, and does some surface skimming (pretty efficiently).

I want to replace the valve on one of the drains so I'll be doing some plumbing work regardless, but what are the drawbacks of having it configured this way as opposed to having both drains go to my skimmer section, and feed the refugium by teeing off the return pump instead?

I have some algae growing in the refugium section, and am wondering if it is because I don't have enough flow, or if it is just expected due to the low flow.  Could my CF light (for cheato) be the culprit for algae in that section?  It's a "flood type" CF 5400K (I can't find anything above that at Rona/HomeDepot/RenoDepot).

Also, what is the best setup for a fuge?  Right now, I have simply dumped a bunch of small live rock rubble and a ball of cheato.  No sand, nothing.  Should I put some sand in there?  Put more rocks?

Wow, so many questions!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Bob P]

Canadian tire carries 2 pack  GE 26 watt 6500k daylight cf bulbs.
CT. code 52-5350-2
Kind of a baby blue box.
What kind of algae in the refuge section?
However, thats the best place to have algae, not in display tank.
Aragonite bed or not is 50-50 I'd say, if you have a rock pile in there.
I run two tanks, one with bed, one without, I see no difference.
Mine are plumbed with a tee from pump to feed fuge. low flow is
good, gives fuge time to work.

[lost_at_sea]

my fuge definitely had cyno and hair algae but my display was algae free.

I ended up removing a lot of it manually and recently put a K1 in the fuge area.  Also of note my Chaeto withered away into nothingness, i'm assuming due to lack of nutrients.

a lot of people have said it's a good idea to plumb a direct line to the fuge.. i've never quite understood why.  The point of the Fuge is to remove Nitrates (IMO), why wouldn't you want to first skim the water to remove as many dissolved organics as possible THEN have your fuge do it's thing?

Drain > Skimmer > Fuge > return

That's my setup, but again all depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

[Bubbles]

Drain > Skimmer > Fuge > return  Here too.







Jeff

[HomerJ]

Drain > Skimmer > Fuge > return  Here too.

Jeff

Doesn't that make it such that your fuge has a lot of flow?  I thought low flow was a must for a fuge to be efficient?

[lost_at_sea]

Depends on your return pump. My flow in the DT is almost solely from my mp40 so the return is probably only providing around 600gph.

My fuge (center section is also like a little bowl in how the baffle's work:

The water goes over top of two baffle's with the fuge in the bowl created, this also limits the amount of water flow.

in honesty, i don't think my fuge does anything in regards to removing nitrates or algae, i think it's just a place to store more rock and some unsightly equipment.

[HomerJ]

Canadian tire carries 2 pack  GE 26 watt 6500k daylight cf bulbs.
CT. code 52-5350-2
Kind of a baby blue box.

Thanks for the tip.  Haven't check CT yet, but I found the Philips 6500k at Home Depot when I dropped by for something else.

What kind of algae in the refuge section?
However, thats the best place to have algae, not in display tank.

I'm not sure what kind it is, looks like long strands, so I'll assume hair algae of some type.  It only grows on the glass walls, nothing on the rocks so far.  Do I simply scrape it off and try to collect as much as possible with a net or strategically placed filter floss?

I agree I'd rather have it in the fuge than the main tank... but I'd rather not have any at all.  Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist!

Thanks for all the great replies.

I do ag