Sump or Refugium?

I settled it! Custom 55 gallon sump and a 30 gallon Refugium under the DT

 

Glad to hear it! Personally, I think a sump is a must-have for all marine/reef aquariums. You just can't not have one, unless it's a nano tank. A sump has way too many benefits to not use.

Meanwhile a properly maintained refugium has benefits as well. You also have the peace of mind knowing that if the fuge just doesn't work out to your liking, you can just take it offline and be done with it.

Our tank at the moment is a 90 gallon display tank, with a DIY 30 gallon sump/fuge combo. I just cut 1/4" acrylic baffles out of a sheet I got at Home Depot, and siliconed those in place. The sump has a chamber where the display tank drains into, and it also holds one of the heaters, the skimmer, and a filter sock. This chamber flows through a bubble trap into the return pump chamber, which has some bags of carbon and phosphate remover (new tank, will probably only run carbon once the tank is established). This gets pumped back into the DT. Meanwhile there is a T with a ball valve coming out of the drain line that flows to the refugium chamber on the opposite side of the sump. This holds a basic sand bed, some live rock, and a nice ball of chaeto that will hopefully grow and grow. We plan on using this area to raise copepods for the display tank as well, because our DT is very wrasse heavy at the moment and they love to snack on pods. They will also help with detritus cleanup for all the gunk that finds its way into the sump.

Fair warning, for the fuge, always research your algae before putting it in there. Some algaes can lead to disaster. The only real tried-and true issue free algae seems to be chaeto or spaghetti algae, or it is at least proven itself to be that way. You can't go wrong with it. Other algaes are up to you, but no fuge is complete without chaeto

 

Thanks - I was planning Chaeto and maybe mangroves?