lets try this again - refugium input wanted

acrylic and pvc materials --- water from DT thru 1" overflow into a 4" pvc stand pipe with a filter sock. water can only leave stand pipe through the bottom. water will rise through the LR rubble and spill into the refugium. The refugium will have a 4" sand base with cheato. water will leave the refugium and spill into the bubble trap. and will inturn be pumped back into DT. My display tank has my Protein skimmer on it and will leave it here for now.

Questions: 1) How do i keep the cheato in the refugium and not spill into bubble trap area? was thinking of attaching egg crate somehow.
2) how fast should the water flow through the fuge area?
3) do i need to have a reactor of some sort in here?

 

dont currently have a fuge Ishy

but I have read on here that desired flow rates for them are somewhere between 5% and 10% of the DT tanks water volume
I also know someone who used nylon thread to band his cheato to a piece of rock in his fuge to stop it being picked up and floating off

Steve

 

I use eggcrate to keep it in. Five to ten percent of the DT is indeed the norm. I split the difference for the sump and run about 3% for the fuge. I let the water stay in there longer than the sump. And I have my pipe below water level, so it mixes it up a bit.

 

is that your return pipe john or your inlet pipe?