Refugium Sizing / Functionality - Is what I have sufficient?

I bought this sump for very cheap on ebay, and I have been having second thoughts on my build (still need to start a build thread, finished the fish room).

Questions:

1) Is this too small for a 75gal reef?

2) Is the sump area too small? Im having difficulty finding a skimmer that has a footprint that fits. I feel I need something along the lines of a EV-180, Vertex, or a Reef Octo all of which have footprints that seemingly wont work in my sump based on manufacturer sizing.

3) In the picture I have a representation of 1" of Fuge mud, and 5" of aragonite sand. Is this sufficient for a 75gal reef?

I really wanna get my pre-planning done before I go and buy anything else. This sump I have now was a impulse buy

Im guessing down the road that I will eventually have reactors for GFO, Carbon, and potentially calcium though without actually doing a full reef hands-on its just a guess at this point. However, I would like to make sure I have adequate space before I purchase my skimmer, sand, mud, and the contents for the DT. I assume I do not have an adequate sump here.

 

btw the baffle height on the right is 5" off the bottom, and is 1" apart from the next baffle which goes to the top of the tank (tank height = 13")

 

by my calculations the fuge is 5.6gal, and the sump+return chamber is ~5gal of actual water. seems small when i see peoples signatures that have 75g tanks have like 30-40g sumps.

 

not even sure i like the design of this fuge.... opinions?

 

I like the design. Like the diagram too but personally for me, I know Id have a cleaner fuge if unfiltered water wasnt entering it. My fuge happens to be way oversized for my 75 so its handling it, but throwing a driptray with prefilters above it might be a good way to remove food and poop before it has to get broken down by the fuge. The less demand you have to place on natural processes is an important factor. I dont think people like to use as many prefilters as me. I use a 100 micron on bottom of drip tray, then my media bags (chemipure, rowa, GAC etc) then another 100 micron on top of them, then a 50 micron. Not to steal this guys thread but does anyone know if there is a drawback to using prefilteringin a reef?

BTW Id put a bit more than 1" of mud in there. You might just be on the cusp of adequate depth for de-nitration in mud, why not give yourself more anerobic area.
I think it is quite undersized but not impossible to do. Small sump = less volume = less stable. You'd have to run that tank like a nano if you plan to stock it out with any fish. Once you add the fish in, reefkeeping becomes a new ballgame. So balance will be fragile unless you get the volume up.

 

Yeah, I think im going to use this to begin with and build out a custom fuge later to support my bio-load better.

 

i have an idea
nice sump by the way.
put the return water through a filter sock in the sump area where you could put a decent in sump skimmer or a huge external one( which I like ) then put a smaller pump to run filtered water to the refugium providing clean water to the refugium to be stripped of nitrates. good luck

 

thanks, im revising the picture now. im going to drill a hole in the acrylic baffle on the left, pipe in a small pump from the sump, and the return water from the fuge will then overflow back into the sump.

skimmer, id love to have it external, but from what i understand an EV-180 needs to be in the sump!? hence why i have a problem, because it wont fit in there i dont think.

 

nevermind, i was thinking of the octo i was looking at. the EV-180 is totally going outside of sump itself.

 

woot, might have a 33 long AGA tank comin to my door instead. waiting on response from a friend whos tank, tanked, and he doesnt want to reset anything up. never copper treated, etc.