Sump Tank (48"x18"x18")and Refugium Setup for 8'x30"x24" tank

Hi all,
please be gentle as I am new to the forum.

I was lucky enought to have have a wife who loves ebay.
She happened to find an 8' x 30" x 24" tank and stand on ebay just before Xmas for AU$250 - complete with Sump tank, pumps etc. Only problem cracked back pane of glass.

No problem a search for a tank builder fruited a guy close to home who replaced the back glass for AU$450. Still a cheap tank (in Australia the tank alone is AU$1500 new. The Kids helped me clean the tank and are really excited about the new tank.

Once I got he stand home I realised why the tank cracked. Dodgy stand. After rebuilding the frame superstructure and and converting the stand from single sided to double sided (I intend to use it as a room divider in our rumpus room) by rebuilding the back and adding new doors - I am finally at the point of trying to understand how to use the sump tank properly.

I have read a lot of the forums and reviewed the design and build of many sumps. There seems to be two schools of thought. Centre Return and return after refugium.

I have attached a schematic of the Sump as is and proposed designs. Any thoughs or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

 

Congrats on the great deal. The stand and tank look great.

The benefit of having the refuge on a seperate line is being able to regulate the flow. Some species of macro need longer contact time to perform at their best.
Personally, I have mine setup this way, but the flow is the same as the sump side. I had it slower for a long time but was unhappy with macro growth.

Either design will work well.

 

I would suggest option 1. The refugium and sump on opposing sides with the return in the center.

 

Thanks guys. Yes the outside looks good. I am looking to understand the pros and cons of each design. I have been conscious to endure that if I have a power outage that there is enough room to support the contents of the overflow.
P.S. I am also open to other designs if there is a better solution.

 

Welcome to 3reef, congrats on the tank and repair work. Great shot of the kids BTW.

I would go with option 1 due to control of the flow through the refugium. Can't wait to see you get this baby up and running.

 

im going to suggest option 1 aswell. this is how mine is set up (on a much smaller scale) and it is very easy to refulate flow to the refugium. just as a note, you may need more than 20 cm for your skimmer section as a 265Gallon capable skimmer(using ASM G-4 as example) has a 11.5" x 16" footprint. also you return area will only be 7.5 gallons which is not much for a tank of that size as you could see 1-4 gallons of evaporation per day. a high capacity auto top off will be required.

Good luck and great start, i look forward to seeing your progress!