Most important fuge dimension?

[gmoroney]

I am currently planning a 90 gal tank and I also plan to have a sump with a split supply (fuge/return/skimmer). For the fuge portion what is more important? Total gallons or the footprint? That is will a tall fuge perform equally with a shorter one that has a bigger footprint?

I plan to use the fuge for pods and nutrient export via live sand and live rock plus chaeto.

 

[HippieSmell]

Footprint is most important, especially if you're using the sand bed for denitrification. You also get more surface area for light to get to your chaeto. Also, when you wrote fuge/return/skimmer, are you going to have 3 sections in that order? Let me suggest having the overflow drain to the skimmer section, then through the fuge, then return. Feed the skimmer first, the fuge will get enough food, trust me. Good luck.

 

[dustins]

Personally, I would go for footprint over Depth. This way there is more surface area exposed to light for the chaeto to take advantage of.

 

[HippieSmell]

Oh sorry, welcome to RC!

 

[gmoroney]

Thanks for the replies.

The fuge/return/skimmer meant to say that I was planning on splitting the supply so the overflow went to the skimmer and the fuge (reduced flow through fuge). Then both of those flowing to the return in middle. This way I figured I could maximize the size of each section while reducing the elbows on the return.

"Let me suggest having the overflow drain to the skimmer section, then through the fuge, then return. Feed the skimmer first, the fuge will get enough food, trust me."

By doing this wouldn't the fuge have to much flow going through it?

 

[matter1331]

not necessarily, you can plump your system to "T" off so only half of the flow makes it to the fuge and the other half is diverted to the return chamber. This is what we did on our 215 so we could control the flow going through the fuge.

 

[HippieSmell]

I have almost a 1000 gph going through my 30 gallon fuge, and it is MUCH healthier than my old 20 gallon fuge with 200 gph flow. Just be sure to use enough baffles.

 

[DrBegalke]

footprint is more important. however, if you have a more vertical area, you can always light the chaeto from the side.