Refugium vs Sump

[steelhead97]

I have heard good things about having a refugium but due to the limited space I ONLY have a sump hooked up. My sump however has lots of chaeto and live rock in it. My question is while the sump is not continuously cycling tank water through it (I only skim about 8 hours a day) would it still be serving the same purpose in terms of removing the nutrient load? Will my nitrates be lowered or will the faster flow of water through the sump minimize this effect? I do have a lot of chaeto in the sump. Thanks

 

[evsalty]

Are you saying that the sump is completely off for 16 hours a day or just the skimmer is off during that time?

I would run both/all all day long for a more stable system.

 

[steelhead97]

Yes the skimmmer is off and there is no water circulation from tank through the sump. I do have all powerheads inside the tank on but the skimming is only 8 hours a day. The sump I have a light to grow the chaeto and it's on for an additional 4 hours after i shut the skimmer and sump off. I would like to but at night it makes a lot of noise and I've got a small house so I only run it at night and then view the tank at night and turn off before i go to bed. I wish I could run it all night though

 

[robexcoral]

they both have there propose its just reg is more for the food vs sump is filtering but also grow pods in

 

[jus10kase]

Sounds like your sump is part refugium anyways. You could probably find a way to partition it off somehow to control flow if its too much.
I usually turn off skimmer when I crash on the couch, but the sump doesn`t make any noise.

 

[evsalty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15211202#post15211202 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steelhead97
Yes the skimmmer is off and there is no water circulation from tank through the sump. I do have all powerheads inside the tank on but the skimming is only 8 hours a day. The sump I have a light to grow the chaeto and it's on for an additional 4 hours after i shut the skimmer and sump off. I would like to but at night it makes a lot of noise and I've got a small house so I only run it at night and then view the tank at night and turn off before i go to bed. I wish I could run it all night though

Maybe earplugs would help. Like said above you already employ your sump as a refuge but my biggest thing is that the water in it is sitting stagnant for 16 hours at a time.

 

[atxryan]

My Precision Marine skimmer came with a silencer.. It works great and may be a solution for your loud setup. I would recommend keeping you sump "active" for stability. What about your heater? where is it located and how are you keeping the temp constant?

 

[Agu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15211482#post15211482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by evsalty
Maybe earplugs would help. Like said above you already employ your sump as a refuge but my biggest thing is that the water in it is sitting stagnant for 16 hours at a time.

What he said plus the skimmer is full of stagnant water too. IMO you need to reconfigure your plumbing and pumps to run them 24/7 or you will have problems in the future.

Before you say it can't be done, I had a 180 with sump and skimmer in our bedroom and it was so quiet I sometimes woke in the middle of the night wondering if there was a power failure.

 

[firsttank]

as suggested in the above post..its good to run the sump 24/7- also I read that the skimmers perform efficiently if they are running constantly ...also its good for the tank....

 

[steelhead97]

OK, now running them 24/7, no additional plumbing needed. I had a larger return pump that i was using and that was the noise maker. I've now taken a shortcut and just put an in sump utility pump with some tubing as the return. The flow is not as good as the big main pump but that also means a lower electric bill and quieter operation.