Perfecting my sump + refugium

hello all yet again,

So having seen the filtering benefits of my small sump with refu. I have decided to upgrade to a larger scale system. currently my sump and refugium is based on a 20 l (5 g) tank for my 180 l (48 g) DT so about 10% of my DTs total water capacity.

I will be moving to a 40 l tank (11 g) or 20% of my DT volume, i would like also to make some slight modifications to my old design that are explained in the diagram itself.

also i would like to know if you think my 200l skimmer will be able to work effectively with the new water volume (total of 120 l, though he will be placed in the 40l sump)

the first 2 pics show my current set up with overflow box (the overflow system wont change)

the last pic shows my new project

please stick with me and thank you in advance for your input.

 

New design looks solid, the extra baffle will also act as a bubble trap for the skimmer.

 

thx bio, anyone else? an input for the skimmer question?

 

The last design looks like it should work fine.

 

Looks good. Only thing I would change is that I would use glass instead of plexiglass. Any glass shop will cut them for you and it was cheaper than plexiglass when I built mine. Silicone doesn't bond as well to acrylic as it does to glass, and over time it can come loose. There was just a thread on here the other day about someones acrylic overflow coming unglued.
Other than that it looks good.

 

Glass

I always used glass too 1/4" works well and cheap to buy also install with 100% aquarium safe silcone. This will make you a solid no trouble filter and they look good too. Design looks nice!

 

You don't need a bigger fuge. 10% of the DT is fine. Sump volume is one thing, but a bigger fuge is not always better. If you really want to redo your sump/fuge, put your return in the middle, use a 3 partition bubble trap for the skimmer, and keep the fuge the same size... that is as long as the one you have no is actually 10g of actual water volume.

 

I have a sump/refugium almost identical to your first design.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/819/img20110922101202.jpg/

 

hmm thank you for the tips people, glass could indeed be a better option. @powerman, i appreciate the honest input and i hesitated a while before i thought of going bigger, the thing is that the original sump+refu was a 5 gallon tank divided up in 3 sections, so literally my refu. must have been about 6-7 liters maybe less.

hoping to have more filtering power with the new 11 gallon

 

on another note i had bought 2 perculas and realized only at home that one the two (the smaller male) had a damaged tail. they have been happily swimming around my tank for the past 4-5 months now and the damage is almost gone! the tail grew back (i didnt even think this was possible) and the black line is becoming more and more marked.

ill consider this as a proof that they are healthy and happy