Skimming the fuge?

Ok, so how big a deal is it to skim the water coming from the refugium? I am wracking my brain trying to figure out how I'm going to plumb my sump/fuge wityh an external pump from a central sump with skimmer on one end and 'fuge on the other... now I'm thinking maybe I'll just buckle and skim the water after it's gone through the refugium, I'm just concerned I'll be skimming out a lot of pods... is that really a problem?

What I want is Skimmer | Return (sump) | Refugium

what I'm considering settling for is Refugium | Skimmer | Return

 

Moved to refugium board - please post on right boards. Thanks...

 

The whole point of a REFUGE ium is so pods can grow. Sort of defeats the point to skim them out. I doubt all will be, but the pods thems selves are not what is so benificial...it's all their larve that feed the coral, and that stuff will be skimmed out.

Plus then you would not be limiting flow...all your sump flow would go through the fuge. Again, nice calm slow flow helps pod population grow.

Having said that...yes poeple do it. Yes it does "work"..... is it ideal... no.

 

I have mine setup as Skimmer-fuge-return with the water flowing over the fuge. I have very low flow in the fuge itself. I can post a picture of it if you want.

I agree with powerman though..it would probably be okay..not ALL of the water flowing through the sump goes through the skimmer.

 

Um, have you considered using a Y connector, with one of the ends being smaller than the other (for the fuge)?

 

If your worried about pods you should get a hang on fuge or a raised fuge that uses gravity to put water back in your DT. Your return pump is a giant spinning death machine to most pods.

 

Actually I saw somewhere that 85% to 90% will make it thru unharmed. The impeller is designed to push water thru the pump not chopp up anything that get to it.

+1 to Powermans answer

 

+1. Our water goes from tank to fuge to sump/skimmer/reactors. I have a ton of pods. Skimming water before it goes into a refugium will take out a lot of the "stuff" that the grasses in the fuge eat.

 

Yep, am and powerman nailed it. If at all possible you WANT the skimmer AFTER the fuge, else you just reduce the nutrients going to the fuge and decrease its efficiency. Mine has always been set up like this, I have never noticed any pods in the skimmer If your real worried about it, run a sock on the skimmer inlet. It wont let the pods in, but you DOA's will still pass through and the skimmer will work fine.

 

Hey stranger!