Refugium assistance

Cozwey

Go Canada!!!!
I am going to try and set up a refugium for my system. I have looked online at some options. I do not think the HOB style will work as I have euro bracing. That leaves me to try and do it below in the stand. Oh"¦ I do not have enough room in my sump with the set up I have.

Is it possible to use a smaller tank say 20 gallons and create a separate fuge next to the sump? Toss a couple of pumps into my sump and the fuge tank and go from there? I am trying to set this up to provide a habitat for copepods and such. Plus I would likely start growing Cheato to help lower my nitrates..
 
I also have an area in my sump that my socks hang in. Could I remove the socks and use that chamber as the fuge? Should I remove the socks anyway?
 
It is possible to do a separate refugium. Do a search online for "remote fuge" or "remote refugium" to get lots of ideas.

I personally like to keep the filter socks for mechanical filtration. Removes lots of little crap, as long as you clean them out with water changes. Using that chamber is up to you based on how big the chamber is and how much flow you run through that chamber. I like to keep my fuge's flow slower than my sump.
 
I connected my fuge to sump. I drilled two holes on both sumps and connected two pvc pipes with bulkheads. The fuge is 2 inches higher that sump and water goes to sump by gravity. Only problem is my protein skimmer is at last sump which I don't like. I have a filter sock on fuge and ATS and protein skimmer on second sump.
 
Ok I now have a remote fuge. I picked up a small tank and stand for $30 on Kijiji. I stopped at the lfs and grabbed an overflow box, tubing, and a Marineland hidden 17" LED, and some Cheato. Currently the return to the fuge is coming out of the skimmer chamber and the overflow is pouring into the same. Not sure if this best but i will look into it more. This is very simple set up but it is working atm.
 
there are endless ways to do it. some principles to keep in mind are: less flow in fuge; try not to pump the "clean" output from one filter directly into another filter; plan for disasters/floods/pump failures/blockages... think "what will happen if X fails?"

nothing wrong with socks--i like them to trap detritus and micro bubbles--but need to be cleaned very often to prevent it from leaching waste nutrients back into system.
 
Flow looks good. 20 LBS of live sand. I will be hooking this into the Apex when it comes to be able to auto the light on and off. Chaeto is far end of fuge away from the overflow. Fuge water has cleared up nicely but DT is still a bit milky. I just increased my overall system water by 7 gallons for a total of 115 gallons.
 

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Well, after reading much I am going to pick up a jar of Trigger pods from the LFS. I am going to go with lights on opposite cycle from DT. Most people believe the stability to the Ph helps and I am all for stability.
 
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