Sump, fuge, or neither? - 20g

[kevin4052002]

I have a 20g long and am tossing up the idea of adding a sump or fuge. The size will be considerably small because of the restrictions of the cabinet, but I figured any additional water volume would be beneficial. My real question is whether or not to make it a sump or refugium. I only have a limited size to work with (probably only 7g), so I would have to go with a lit refugium with macro or a protein skimmer and hide some other equipment.

On working with such a small size, which would you recommend, and why?

Also, what protein skimmer would be best? I have 4 fish: anthias, wrasse, pygmy angel, clown. I was looking at the AquaC Urchin or the Coralife 65g SuperSkimmer.

 

[dendro982]

If you have clean water with no nitrates or phosphates problem, then I would be voting for refugium, if not - protein skimmer. But beware: having a good protein skimmer and making it work efficienly is not the same. Only after half of year of use I came to this .
Here is thread for making skimmers work: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=554786&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 .

 

[kevin4052002]

Every two weeks I do a water change and at that point the nitrates are between 10-20ppm, then afterwords drop to "zero", according to the RedSea test kit I use. Phosphates have never been a problem for me either. That thread was very nice and thorough and helped me with a lot.

Thank you for your help, I have decided to go with a refugium now.