Refugium Design Assistance (w/pic)

I'm very new to this site, but I usually do quite a bit of browsing and such before I post. I have an empty 40B that I'd like to turn into a saltwater DT. I'm planning on building my own refugium out of a Aqueon/All Glass 20L. I thought about doing a 15 gallon sump, but I want as much room as I can get for both the refugium and the return because I'm not running an ATO. For the return pump I'm most likely running a Magnum 500 (with a powerhead in the tank to get enough movement). From what I've read refugiums do better with a slower flow, so in my design I have a ball valve for both the lines running to the skimmer compartment and the refugium compartment so I can control the flow. There is also a ball valve on the return pump so I can control the water going back into the tank (the gray boxes in the image)

The dimensions are labeled on the image. The protein skimmer I'm most likely going with is a less expensive one that seems to be getting fairly good reviews - SC Aquariums SC65. So I designed the skimmer compartment to fit that skimmer. The only other information I can think of is that I'm going with an Eshopps 300 overflow box. As for the refugium, I'm not sure if I want to go with a DSB or not. I haven't researched the benefits to either to in depth yet.

I'm open to any comments/criticism/advice on anything with my tank/sump (baffle sizes, piping, pump, etc)

**Edit - If you copy the link and open it up in a new window/tab you can actually read the writing**
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/griebs18/Refugium_Design_01.jpg

 

LOoks good!

Welcome to 3 reef!

 

Your return does not need to be very big. I would def make the skimmer area larger using space from the return. If all goes well, you'll prob want to upgrade the skimmer eventually and it would suck if you didn't have the room to.

I would go with the DSB too.

 

+1 to FatBastad
& welcome to 3reef

 

if the return is too small the evaporation will drop the water level in the return too much causing problems, unless there is an ATO, personally My return is a 1/4 of my sump, as I dont have an ATO running at the moment, it is also about 13" deep when full, So I have time to top off.

if your return is too small, it wont hold a lot of water, and if it cant hold the same amount as what is leaving back to the DT it could run dry. I have seen this before

 

My main concerns with the refugium is having the return run low. Like I said prior, I'm not going to be running an ATO so I wanted to provide as much room as possible for both the return and the refugium.

I think I'll be content with the protein skimmer I listed, but I've also looked at the next size up and it should fit in an 8" compartment (I could always bump my skimmer compartment to 9")

**Edit. The next size up is the 150 and the dimensions are 10x7x23**

 

Yeah, I'm only taking about a few inches. Don't forget, (depending on your system) your skimmer is your front line of defense. You'll have to increase the frequency or amount of water changes opposed to using a larger skimmer (bio load depending).
This seems like more work than simply topping off with RODI water more often...

There isn't really wrong way in sump design, some designs will just require less maintenance. and I'm all about less maintenance.

 

So do you think I'd be better off running like a 9" compartment for the skimmer and just run the 150 skimmer right away. The cost difference between the 65 and the 150 is only about $40.

I also have a question regarding the water lines. I prefer to use all hard lines (PVC) for both the return and the water coming off of the DT to the sump. Should I avoid 90 degree fittings? For example in the photo I have the line running to both the refugium compartment and the skimmer compartment (both will have ball valves to control flow). I'm just very picky when it comes to running plumbing on sumps/wetdrys/etc and I'd like to do it correctly the first time.

BTW I appreciate the help. I'm really liking this forum.

 

The golden rule is go with the biggest skimmer you can fit and afford.

Looks like the 90 degree elbows are not in your pumps return lines. They are fine to use however, you just must consider that you'll lose a bit of gph and pick out a return pump accordingly. But you don't want to throttle back the return line from the pump very much. This will shorten the life and cause more noise and vibration.
Regardless, you'll want some type of flexible hose right off your pump before it goes it goes into the pvc; or even use hose all the way up. This will help mitigate some vibration inherent in the running pump.

 

Never even thought about the vibrations to be honest. That's a good point. I will most likely have around 2 90s in the return pump. I'll still have a ball valve but it wouldn't be closed that much if at all. Granted my overflow box is a eshopps 300, so if that doesn't keep up with the magnum 5 I can always modify it a little bit to get more flow.

I think I'm going to go with the larger protein skimmer though. Would it be a good idea to maybe raise the baffles to 9" or even 9.5" just to accommodate more volume into the refugium/return pump area? From what I've read the protein skimmer I've selected works best between 8 and 10 inches.