Refugium setup help

I am new to the reef forums, signed up 2 mins ago. I have been in the hobby for 2 years now and learned alot the expensive way. I am now upgrading from a red sea max 130 to a 90g system. So far I have the tank with a corner overflow (wish it was center overflow but ohh well), stand, bubble magus 180 skimmer (almost sent it back hard to fit in 3rd chamber), sump is a proflex model 3.
I need some feedback on how I plan to setup the sump.
I am planning on using a DSB (1st time using a DSB and read some scary possibilities) with cheatomorpha in the 2nd chamber. Return pump and skimmer in the 3rd chamber and thinking about miracle mud in the 1st chamber (does it really work? does it need alot of water flow?). I am ordering the 18w coralife mini as the fuge light and switching the 50/50 bulbs to all 10k as I dont think I would have any need for the atinics.
The livestock I plan on keeping is 9 fish (2 tangs, 2 true perculas, 4 anthias, 1 flame angel), 1 rose anemone, 1 cleaner shrimp, and all corals are going to be lps and soft corals and if all goes well sps. (heavy stocking on corals).

Well thats the idea I have so far that I think will be forgiving if something does goes wrong with the tank all ideas and suggestions for improvement with the fuge is welome.

 

Your sump plan sounds goo for the sump posted above. I have no personal experience with miracle mud, but have hears that there is no miracle that comes with it(lol) and that you would be just as well to use a DSB of dry aragonite.

For the fuge light I would jst go with a 6500K spiral compact florescent with a reflector. For a couple bucks you can pick it up at Lowe's or Home Depot. Run this light to the opposite light cycle of your DT.

The rest sounds good to me. Keep us updated.

 

i use a 40w clip on desk lamp from walmart for 8$ and the spiral 6500k bulb about 10$..under 20$ total..

 

Im deffinately going to look into that 65000k fuge light that would save $50 that can go towards corals. Would that spectrum promote neusance algae?

 

Hi Scallalee48, welcome to 3Reef !

Nothing scary about a DSB in a refugium, no worries. It’s when you have it in the main tank there can be scary possibilities.

I was not impressed with miracle mud, don’t waste your money. Currently I use sand and Garf Grunge, layered several times in my refugium.

The set up you described will work well for you.

 

You don't use mud by itself in a compartment... plus it is way to fine and will be swept away and cloud your tank. You can use mud as a base in a DSB but it needs to be capped with sand. Try not to complicate things. The first compartment is for filter socks, just leave it that way. Have a DSB, use mud or not in it.... the real problem you are going to have is if your skimmer puts out micro bubbles being in the return section. But there are ways to deal with it and your skimmers are part of that set up anyway right.... in the return section?

 

I wouldn't put any mud in the 1st chamber, just a DSB in the chamber you use as the fuge. The ideal solution would be to have the fuge in the 3rd chamber and your return in the middle (along with the skimmer since it wouldn't fit in the 1st) then split your overflow line, but I'm not sure that sump would support this confiruration. The only problems I see with your plan is possible micro bubble issues, the skimmer skimming out some of the benefits of the fuge since it's located after the fuge, and the flow rate in the fuge (this is probably not a big deal, but I prefer a slower flow rate through the fuge). Also, in the pic there's a sponge in the sump, if the fuge end up being in the middle, you definitely want to remove the sponge (in either case I would remove the sponge)

I started out in the hobby (well I should say since I restarted) with a similar sump because it came with the used setup I bought. I quickly learned it wasn't working for me. Nothing against off the shelf sumps, but if you're somewhat handy you're better off buying a tank and gluing in some baffles, that way you get exactly what you're looking for.