Where should my refugium go?

I'm building my own sump and am wondering what order should my sump go? Skimmer box, Refugium, Return Pump ect.
Thanks

 

Tank water directly to refugium; refugium to skimmer/sump; skimmer/sump back to tank.

 

I think you'll find a bunch of different opinions and setup, some people split the inlet and one side goes to the fuge, the other to the skimmer, and the return is in the middle which allows you to control the flows in the fuge and skimmer independently. I ended up going skimmer in first section to fuge to return pump. This is always a good resource if you haven't found it already Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

 

FWIW - here is a simple sketch of a sump design I did for someone a while back. You can mod the dimensions to fit your needs but the layout will work for most setups.

 

here is mine just before everything was hooked up. The OF goes to the skimmer T'd at the bottom to the fuge with a valve to control flow. They both empty into the center return with my Rio+ 1700 pump.

 

not to hijack this thread but since this is topic I thought I might bring it up. Why are people set on the "skimmer has to get the dirtiest water"

My thoughts are why does it matter/, even if the skimmer got the absolute cleanest water from the tank? why couldnt it go refugium then sump? Its like ok well if the skimmer doesnt have to cleanup as much so what, its getting done b4 hand, so either way. What does it matter what order it goes in? unless its over all better for the cylce this way.

Im not a theorist or trying to start a debate, i really was curiuos about this? any help?

 

Mine sits beside my display on the floor in the open. It's easy to work on and cool to watch.

 

If the skimmer has dirtier water, it pulls more out of the tank, and operates more reliably. If it has cleaned water, it'll pull out less with the same amount of water (a wetter skim for the same effect). The reliability factor has to do with gunk getting caught up in the refugium. The amount of gunk that gets stopped there changes minute-to-minute, and is thus not always giving the skimmer the same amount, while the amount is more consistent with a steady steam of the dirtiest water.

 

So often solutions are given without any reasoning behind it. There are drawbacks to every method, you just have to decide which draw back you want to deal with.

Skimmer first: The whole point of a good skimmer is to remove dissolved solids and some solids before they are broke down into base components of nitrates and phosphates. This reduces load on biological filter and removes N and P before they are present. The overflow takes surface water and feeds this dirtiest water to the skimmer. CON: A fuge needs to be fed raw water from the tank for the micro fauna and macro algae to feed off of. The skimmer removes most of this and the fuge gets under fed.

Fuge first: Fuge is fed tank water where it feeds the micro fauna and macro algae. Worms and pods feed off the water and break down the waste to base components of N and P. Macro algae takes up the N and P and is removed from the sytem when harvested. CON: The whole point od a fuge is to provide habitat for a strong population of pods to grow with out predation. This populations eggs will eventually overflow and feed the coral and fish in the display tank. With the skimmer after the fuge a lot of the eggs are skimmed out and never make it to the tank. What is the point of having a fuge when you kill most of what it produces?

Return last: Regardless of what is first, everything flows through the sump to the return and cycled back to the tank. A fuge is best served by low flow for the pods to grow without holding on for dear life and the time for macro to take up the N and P. The CON is that sump flow is too much for the fuge and you reduce it's effectiveness. Why not have the best fuge you can?

Return in the middle: The best of both worlds. Skimmer is fed raw water as is the fuge. The flow is controlled for how much the skimmer processes and how much the fuge requires. Both get what they want. CON: You have to split the drain coming from the tank. This requires probably $10 in extra parts and 30 more minutes at most to plumb. Hard to call that a con when that is all it takes and you get a much better system.

Feel free to reduce or improve the effectiveness of your system based on the limits of your individual situation.

 

Personally, I think the best system is a fuge with an overflow located above the tank, so pods can't be killed by the return pump. Again, not always possible, but I believe it is the best.