Fuge before or after skimmer?

[mfinn]

Skimmer first, then refugium. The refugium is already a detritus trap, so any detritus that's removed by the skimmer is a plus.

 

[riche]

your drain will go directly into the skimmer chamber?

Yes

 

[NeedAReef]

I've had it both ways, but with the fuge before the skimmer, it ingests a lot of chaeto, which is a PITA

I was gonna suggest it might do that plus it might suck up pods that could have gone into the DT to feed corals

 

[mehaffydr]

I use a 150 Gallon Rubbermaid for sump and I have a COR20 pump in that pumping water up to my skimmer and Refugium by way of a T in PVC, Then they both drain back to sump

 

[PeterEde]

Isn't pulling nutrients away from the fug sort of defeating the purpose. you want those things to grow well?

 

[Starganderfish]

Fuge only, no skimmer. I find it too hard to manage salinity with freshwater loss from evaporation and saltwater loss from skimming in a nano or pico. Well stocked and well lit fuge is enough for me. With the added bonus of a lot less maintenance.

 

[mfinn]

Isn't pulling nutrients away from the fug sort of defeating the purpose. you want those things to grow well?

Unless your skimmer takes all of the water draining from the display tank, the majority is going to go past the skimmer and into the refugium area.

 

[Potatohead]

Unless your skimmer takes all of the water draining from the display tank, the majority is going to go past the skimmer and into the refugium area.

Plus a skimmer is only ~30% efficient anyway

If someone was that concerned about that they could shut the skimmer down during the 'fuge photoperiod I guess...

 

[MillennialReefer]

Personally I don't think it makes a huge difference. I've had both setups previously, due to the way the systems were set up. Currently have my skimmer and ATS in the same chamber, and the overflow directly in the same chamber. Essentially my sump is just one large tank with everything in the middle. I have yet to see a difference from my previous systems.

 

[dbowman5]

i went "other"
my bean animal is plumbed to send primary to skimmer and secondary, and emergency, go to the 'fuge; i can adjust how much goes to the fuge with the full siphon valve. plus when i turn off the return pump to spot feed, the drain down back flows into the 'fuge overcoming the weirs on both sides. this allows a certain amount of water sharing for a few minutes before i restart the normal flow.

 

[MBruun]

I have the intake before the skimmer and the output after the skimmer.
Roller fleece -> pump for refugium taking some water before it get to the skimmer -> output after the skimmer

 

[AJsReef]

After the skimmer for me, prevents macro getting in my skimmer pump / provides an extra "bubble mesh"

 

[Amhojjat]

After because I wouldn’t want algae entering the skimmer. Would also add some mechanical filtration post Fuge to keep it out of the DT for the same reasons. Although, I’d lose the skimmer and just have a larger Fuge. Lose the socks too. Perhaps split the sump so I can have two Fuges on opposite light schedules. Not worried about trapping detritus, either.

Why not a 24 hour cycle on both?

 

[Amhojjat]

My skimmer is before my five, only because it is the only place I have room for it. My five is on top of my return. I feel like my reef gets more nutrients that way.

am I wrong?

 

[GARRIGA]

Why not a 24 hour cycle on both?

I’ve done that in freshwater with plants and phyto and the experiment lasted several months without any I’ll affects. Problem is the reef community seems to have concluded 24/7 isn’t beneficial so I stopped recommending it. When in Rome kind of thing.

Although then you don’t need to split it, either. Might be too simplistic and we will have none of that

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I like the Eshopps sumps that have a bypass channel... Like the R-300.

 

[Tazer5000]

Dual channel design for me. From drain some goes straight to refugium then fuge to return chamber. The other part goes through filter cup to skimmer chamber and then to return chamber.

 

[flagg37]

I put my refugium before my skimmer for the sole reason of having more volume. The water level in the skimmer is only so high and if I ran it after the skimmer then it would be even lower (I can’t raise my skimmer up because of height constraints of the stand).

As things got dialed in, I ended up taking my skimmer offline because it wasn’t skimming. The chaeto was doing such a good job that it wasn’t necessary.

 

[ReefStash Verified Sponsor]

I prefer the skimmer before the fuge for the simple reason that I like my fuge to supply my tank with pods. When I have ran the skimmer after the fuge I would always find pods in the cup.

Really doesn’t matter either way because the skimmer doesn’t get everything on a single pass anyways so just do whatever makes the best sense for your own setup and practices.

You can really talk yourself into either side of the fence on this one.

 

[1ocean]

I did a refug on my 140 , building a 300 now and did away with the whole refug idea, mess and extra light. Build a 5ftx2ftx18 inch sump and no refug...
Build a sulfur and aragonite reactor instead..