Possible for a refuge in this sump?

[gray808]

My WaterBox Marine 70.3 HD is still a few weeks from delivery.
I've mostly settled on most of my equipment and am picking it up a bit every week.

I've been thinking about how to put a refugium in my sump.

This is my "enhanced" sump diagram, taking the tiny one they sent me, upsizing, and converting from Metric to the units my brain works in. Obviously, green is the waterflow. Red rectangles are roughly to scale and placement for return pump and skimmer (the skimmer won't go into the tank for a month or so).

This is a picture of what I am 99.8% sure is the same sump as will be shipping with mine, stolen from the internets for reference.

It looks to me like I have 2 options if I want a refugium in this sum: A) the first chamber, where the overflow drops in, or B) in the second chamber, along with the skimmer.

I notice the person who's sump is pictured above has some live rock, a bit of sand, and... is that bio-media? along with a powerhead in the 2nd chamber (B).

1) Could I just do that, with a clump of chaeto, and perhaps a little carbon, as is?

2) or would it be better to have some sort of flow-through acrylic box in there?

3) Is the first chamber, A, at roughly 13 3/4" by 4 1/2" big enough that I could run some rock/chaeto/etc in there?

Are any of these obviously better ideas than the others?

Are any ideas that I absolutely not no way should do?

And one final sump-related but not refugium related question:

4) Is there any reason I couldn't DIY a cover made from acrylic over the top of my sump, with cutouts for the wires, sump, etc? I'd like to keep the splashing and salt to a minimum.

Thanks, and as always feel free to suggest other options.

Oh, bonus question: anyone have any idea why the blue foam clipped between the skimmer chamber and the return chamber?

--Gray

 

[Spare time]

You could put a sock in the first chamber to keep thr macro clean, and then have a small sponge or something in the area where the water flows to the skimmer section to catch the macro.

I don't think there is any problem with a lid on the sump except for maybe less gas exchange.
Also, I think that the blue foam is because they are not running any socks.

 

[Spare time]

You could also have a refugium with no skimmer like I do. You just need a strong light and consistent tace element dosing (I use chateogro). I know several tanks that have no skimmer and a refugium only.

 

[gray808]

You could put a sock in the first chamber to keep thr macro clean, and then have a small sponge or something in the area where the water flows to the skimmer section to catch the macro.

The overflow has a 4-sock setup in the over-flow, before it hits the drainpipe, like this:

So... I could use the first chamber, with cheato, and a small sponge to keep out hunks of macroalgae from the skimmer chamber... hmmm.

--Gray

 

[IKD]

How big is your skimmer? Could you fit it in the first chamber so it would be skimmer->refugium->return? Or at least get the pump of the skimmer in the first chamber and the skimmer body on the left front side of the 2nd chamber?

 

[gray808]

How big is your skimmer? Could you fit it in the first chamber so it would be skimmer->refugium->return? Or at least get the pump of the skimmer in the first chamber and the skimmer body on the left front side of the 2nd chamber?

It's a Curve 5 Elite, which according to the stats, is 7.3"x7.1", which would make it too wide to fit in the first chamber

--Gray

 

[IKD]

Well, you could put any media/carbon/rock/etc. in the1st and place chaeto near the skimmer output which will help turn it with the extra flow.

 

[S2G]

When I see sumps like yours the fuge is usually where you rock & bag of media is. I'd throw up a diy divider then use some black filter pad etc to prevent light spillage

 

[gray808]

I found this acrylic box on Amazon, and it will fit in the first compartment. So my thought is, it holds chaeto, next to it in the same chamber, a carbon bag. I'll line that chamber, and the floor of chamber 2 (that the skimmer isn't blocking), with either biomedia plates or cubes. Light into chamber 1.

At least that is my current plan.

Do I need to worry significantly about bits of chaeto or pods clogging the skimmer? If so, is a bit of floss between chamber 1 and 2 enough to mitigate that?

--Gray