Sump/Fuge design

I've been drawing out different ways I want to set up my sump and fuge and can't decide on what's best.
The fuge will be a drilled 20g tank to overflow into the sump.
The sump will be a 10g tank divided into 2 sections, one for the skimmer, the other for the return pump. There will be one drain from the DT down to the skimmer in the sump and another into the fuge.
So what i'm trying to figure out is...

Should the fuge drain into the skimmer compartment, then the skimmed water flow into the return section and pumped back to the DT?

Fuge >>> Skimmer >>> Return Pump

Or...should the skimmer and fuge be at opposite ends and have the return pump be inbetween the two?

Fuge >>> Return Pump <<< Skimmer

Just trying to figure out what works best.
Thanks,

 

I like my fuge to drain to the return so all the beneficial microorganisms aren't "skimmed" before they get a chance to travel to the DT

 

Yea I was kinda thinking the same thing. Just wasn't sure. Wanted to get different opinions on works best.

 

Yes, this way all the water that runs through your sump will be skimmed and sparkling clean.

 

Ahh see now I have two different opinions here. Maybe i should have done a poll to see which one got the most votes...

 

I've seen tanks with both setups but personally I'm with Bluetang, this is the configuration I prefer and use. I like the design where the return is in the middle and the skimmer and fuge flow into it. This allows the fuge to do it's job and hopefully minimize the number of pods and other organisms that get skimmed out, my corals also do better when the water is not prestine clean.

I also prefer the flow rate in the fuge to be a bit slower than the rest of the system, so depending on the flow rate on the overflow going to your fuge, you could possibly split that line and send some flow to the skimmer and the rest to the fuge, returning to the DT "fuge clean" but "un-skimmed".

In either case unless you have some crazy high performance skimmer I don't believe there are major differences in the results, not all the water that goes to your skimmer section of your sump will actually go through the skimmer.

 

That is the way I like to think about it. Return in the middle. Bottom line is your skimmer will only skim what it can. Does not matter how much you flow through your sump or your fuge. If you flow 500 gph through your sump, and your skimmer is only doing 300 gph, then 200 gph are not being skimmed. And it does not change whether you flow 300 gph or 800 gph. Your skimmer will only skim to it's capacity.

Think of the fuge as just recirc. It isn't being filtered or skimmed. Just supplying the fuge with food, and carrying the pods to the display tank. The only thing better you can do is skim the pods out. Defeats the purpose of the fuge.

I flow probably 600 gph through my system, but my carbon/po4 reactor is only doing 300 gph at best. Much less after the carbon is done or I'm running GFO. So even that isn't filtering the whole sump, just the GPH it can do. Does that make sense?

 

I didn't think about the pods being filtered out. I'm changing my opinion. I agree, you should put the return in the middle.

 

Thanks for the replies everybody.
I was originally gonna go with fuge>>skimmer>>return.
But now I think I'm gonna go with the return in the middle as suggested. Makes more sense to me now after being explained.
Thanks again,
K+ to all!

 

To be fair, you are not the only one that does this.And there is some debate on what the skimmer does and does not take out. I mean I know my skimmer does not take out Amphipods, but cocopods are much smaller. And more importantly, their larvae are even smaller, so I would not be able to tell anyway.

I guess I have just always held the opinion of why bother with it to begin with. One less pump for them to have to dodge. And there is no real advantage to doing things in line other than not having to split the drain.

So.... with wondering on the skimmer taking out live food, and not being able to control the flow through the fuge.... or splitting my drain, I just think splitting the drain is easier. There are those that have the fuge after the skimmer and still have healthy pod populations.... so go figure.