Sump/Refugium build- What probes, plumbing and extras should I include?

I'm having a sump/refugium built for the reef tank I'll be setting up- 150 to 210 gal. I have a pretty good idea so far as to what extra's I want built into it like a probe holder, plumbing for a calcium reactor, chiller, ATO, etc.

What features do you all consider absolute necessities and what would just be sweet additions to include?

 

Baffles, filter sock, fuge area or like this my sump build. Maybe a drain on the bottom for easy WC's, Temp, PH, ORP probes

Checkout the probe holders and the adjustable water level for the float switch. I have not finished the hang on media reactors but I plan on using Ozone on the 200gal. I also have one of those holders to hold the dosing lines for the Balling light

 

Question: Do the filter socks totally difuse the bubbles?

 

yes, but they also require frequent cleaning (at least weekly, more if you have a heavier bio load)

 

No, they are used just as a pre-filter.

What will dissipate bubbles are the baffles. Any time the water has to go over and then under, the bubbles will stay in that first "zone" and then float back up.

hth

 

If you don't want bubbles, you can do a Herbie overflow...totally silent and zero bubbles. Depending on how much work you want to do you could do a Bean overflow or a custom hybrid of the two. A Herbie is for a pre drilled reef tank.

 

This has worked wonders for me.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I'm actually having the sump/refugium made for me. I want to make sure I include all of the features I'll need now and down the road will be included. I hadn't thought about a valve for water changes, that's a good one that will come in handy.

Lemonyx, thanks for sharing the pics of your build- Looks great. I also hadn't thought about including a place for dosing lines.

 

I totally agree with you about the bio balls holding nitrates but the fuge with cheato is right there to protect the tank. I have 0 nitrates and I never had 0 nitrates in any of my previous tanks.

That chamber where the overflow pipes go into is the whole problem. There is only a small space at the top of the bioballs to work with. Very awkward situation. I have cheato the size of a basketball and a deep sand bed and live rock in the fuge. I do prefer the way Living Color makes there's with the baffles and not bioballs.

The company says the bioballs are not a problem. Honestly I need to look into this a little more, I could get the bioballs out. It would be quite an undertaking but then ok now I have to hope that the rocks work because is not then I have a real problem. I can get the bioballs out because they float. Rocks don't float. It is perplexing. I attached pics of my system. Also the mag 1200 goes through a Y hose and split at the top. I will deal with that after I get this worked out.

The first two pics show the overflow chamber on the right. It is 3 or 4 inches wide. The salt creep was getting on the hoses. I put new clamps on and put a piece of cardboard there temporarily. I have a sponge there for filtration and I usually put a piece of floss on top that get changed every other day. I have an 18W turbo twist on the left of the sump. I bought a 10 gal tank to use as an ATO. What do you think?