Skimmer position in sump

[Davidman]

Hi all,

In a sectional sump, should I put skimmer, carbon, GFO reactor and UV lights before refugium or after refugium. If I want the refugium produce some pods for the display?

feels like refugium should be the last section before return pump, what’s your thoughts?

 

[york1]

I use trigger system emerald sumps and keep the skimmer in the first section and fuge in the second section. I run external reactors on a seperate pump that sits in the last section with the return pump

 

[ichthyoid]

If you want a healthy pod population, either put the UV on its own pipe/branch, it’s own pump/circuit connected to the sump, or on a timer so it doesn’t run at night when pods are most active.

The idea is that not all of the flow goes through the UV all of the time. As long as a UV is properly sized & has sufficient flow, it will still keep pathogens in check. Just my $0.02

 

[Adam]

There's two schools of thought with skimmer placement. Some say to let the dirtiest water go to the fuge first and put the skimmer after. Others say to put the skimmer before the fuge and let it pull more of the nasties.

Regardless of what plan you go with pull the water for the reactors from the return chamber because there's less particulate there to clog things up.

If I was going to run a fuge I'd probably put the skimmer after the fuge. The particulate and uneaten food will feed the pods and the macro. I pull the water for the ATS from the drain chamber before the sock holder.

 

[ichthyoid]

Fwiw, I have a Trigger Triton sump, they put the fuge 1st inline.

My thoughts are that a refugium is just that, an area of refuge for organisms which may otherwise become prey and/or succumb to other pressures/competition. That said, these organisms need nutrition, arguably of different forms. Some will welcome the excess/uneaten foods from the main tank area which find their way down, further reducing the need for other filtration in the process.

 

[Adam]

My sump usually ends up being an ecosystem of its own. Things find their way down there and I leave them be. My last system had rock rubble that was packed with pods, shrimp, snails and crabs.

 

[Davidman]

Awesome, thank you all for the advice