Sump Fuge Question

snowlynx

New member
How does the refugium section in a sump work if the sump is high flow rate?

I see online pics of the fuge in middle section of the sump.
 
That's the drawback to an all-in-one sump... you have to find a balance between flow rate and contact time...
Guess the short answer is "not as well as a separate, slower flow refugium"
 
It's not that hard to bypass the fuge with some of the flow and therefore have a proper fuge flow rate. It can even be made adjustable!

Add a bulkhead to the baffle before and after the fuge. Connect the 2 bulkheads with a pvc pipe and put a gate valve in the middle. Now you have a bypass with flow control. You can pass as much or as little water through the bypass as you want and therefore control the water passing through the fuge.
 
I have a 3 chamber sump. The drains flow into the left chamber, where the skimmer sits. The center section is the return, and I have an eggcrate divider for the right section which is me refugium.
 
Fuges used for pod production and nutrient export work fine at high flow rates, in my experience.

What is the gph turnover through the sump? How big is the display, and how big is the sump?
 
Put a T and a valve on the drain line and divert part of the water to the fuge or do the same with the return line or do both. I use the drain line but am going to also put a T on the return line to use with my reactor which also flows into the fuge.
 
Learning purposes for now. I have seen few videos
but not specfic to flow, drain.

I have not done price break down, is cost reasonable
for the redsea reef xl series vs. buying individual parts,
screwing up and learning along the way.

Where do you even buy 100+ gallon tank only?
 
I designed my sump so that the fuge is at one end and the return pump is in the middle. I have a seperate pipe that feeds the fuge off of the return. That way I can adjust flow and shut it off completely if needed.
 
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