Sump Design ?

[TaylorPilot]

Also, another school of thought, that I am less inclined to believe, is that you want your most nutrient rich water to hit your fuge first. The thinking being that the macro algae will have a better chance of consuming it if it gets the water before the skimmer has a chance to strip some of the proteins out. Almost every commercially built sump have the fuge first.

 

[Auto-pilot]

Yeah it's a balance I guess. I have a peice of plexiglass as a stand. I wanted a bigger refugium and don't have a auto topper. Also the return had to be mounted properly to prevent siphoning.

 

[jtl]

I currently have my 50g sump set up with the DT water entering on the right compartment which is where the skimmer is located. The return pump is in the center section and the refugium is the far left section. I have plumbing that allows me to bleed water from the return pump to the fuge and/or divert some of the overflow water. I am not sure I like this design and am considering the following:
(1) Have the overflow water go to the left section, it is set up to be 15" deep. This would also be the refugium. Instead of putting a sock holder in this section I am wondering if I could fabricate a holder for a disposable filter pad.
(2) The middle section would be for the skimmer
(3) The far left section would be the return pump.

I am also considering removing the baffles. I have 3 between the skimmer section and the return pump. They are impossible to keep clean.

Any thoughts on this design?

 

[FFFishy]

Welcome @Tony S !
I like your model-building skills.

I'm in agreement with @ihavecrabs --- skip the refugium because it won't be large enough to accomplish much based on your display tank size. Here's another suggestion: Consider a Sock-less sump. I hated cleaning socks. You can use other material, like filter foam. Here's a picture of one of my sumps. Water flows from right to left in this design. Tank drains into the right-most compartment, water flows over the partition, down through the filter foam, and onward to the skimmer area. Just my opinion, but rinsing the filter foam is much easier than cleaning socks. Good Luck !!