Sump vs Refugium

Chamelius

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#1
I have look at a lot of sites on sumps and 'fuges, but still am lost on the pro's and con's for each when comparing. (I ran out of caffeine and my brain is saying no). Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. As well, were I to get to the point where I could, would I be able to put the refug between the output of the sump and the input of the tank (assuming I go that route)?
 
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#3
A refugium needs to be bigger than a sump in order to work properly! I know, Iknow, people use smaller ones, But if they used bigger ones then they wouldn't have to do a water change so much, and thats one of the reasons people use them.
 
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#4
I don't understand what your talking about Jesse. A refugium does not have to be bigger than a sump. A refugium can be placed inside of a sump, seperated with baffles of course. No matter how large your refugium is, you'll still need to do water changes.

Chamelius, what size is your tank? I would recommend getting a custom built sump with a seperation for a refugium inside of the sump. It makes everything a lot cleaner.

I would suggest checking out this website for an idea on how you want your sump built.
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

Melev has several sump designs that are very good. Model F is nice.
 

Chamelius

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#5
At the moment my tank is a "35 gallon" (what the seller told me [joys of math came just shy of 33 gallons]), and I'm thinking about moving it to my 45 gallon project tank (got it real cheap a while ago it just need to be resealed with silicone and need to build a real stand for it, thus my questions about sump/fuge).

I do intend on doing custom on the build. thanks for the link.
 

b_shady

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#6
id go with the refuge you can turn any sump into a refugium. All a refuge is another fish tank for chaeto algae's copo pods, corals, or even fish to grow in. A refuge usually consits of turning a sump into 3 sections. First will be the inlet chamber from your main tank, second is usually the refuge chamber, third will be your return to your tank. i did mine very simple cut some plastic sheets to size and silicone them in.
 
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#7
I knew some one was going to say something about my post, but if you use the same size refug, than a sump then you really aint changing much of the filteration! maybe just a little, but not worth the extra cost, you might as well go with a sump!!! What I did is threw some chealo ( I don't know if I spelled it right) in my sump and put a light over my sump, to eat some nitrate. There is other stuff you can through in sump like calerpa ( I don't know if I spelled it right again).
 
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Chamelius

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#10
The good thing is that I found glass that I've acquired from old things (joys of taking apart old scanners for the stepper motors [working on putting together a CNC mill]). What brands of silicone sealant do you recommend? (Preferably something I can find at HD or another hardware place).

I'll post pics when I finish the installation of the glass.
 
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#13
ive always used ge silicone I, and have never had a problem... just make sure its type I and not II..the II will kill everything as soon as the water touches it
 
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