Thank Don,

You made a couple of good points there. I'm going to have to figure out
which is more important. I do want the little 'pods as well. Limited space
(and a wife that decorates) limits me to a sump/refugium fusion. I didn't
really think about 'pods vs the skimmer. To decrease how much I'll have to
clean the skimmer of pod-parts I think it will have to precede the refugium
with the skimmer. ha. But then again, less skimmer material to clean if I
let the plants do some pre-filtering (in theory). I agree that neither gets
everything out. I just want both to work as efficient as possible. It's
good to have other points to consider.

Will putting a filter pad around the pump going to the skimmer alleviate the
concern for the pods?

How did you do yours?

Thanks,

Bryan


"Don Geddis" wrote in message
...
"Bryan" wrote on Wed, 30 Aug 2006:
I'm designing a sump that I want a protein skimmer an refugium in. I
plan
on planting the refugium to further eat up the phosphates. Should I put
the protein skimmer before the refugium or vice versa? Does it really
matter.

Doesn't really matter, since neither purifies the water with a single
pass.
You need tank water to constantly stream past both kinds of "filters", and
each only cleans the water a little bit on a single pass.

But if you could really do it either way, you should put the refugium
first
and the skimmer second, for filtering purposes. Both consume many of the
same kinds of organics. Basically, just like on land, plants and animals
are in many ways complementary. In your reef system, the fish and
macroalgae
are going to be opposites. Plants consume far more animal waste than just
phosphates. They take in CO2 and make O2; they use nitrates as a
fertilizer;
etc. So you want the water entering the refugium to be as "dirty" as
possible.
Hence, put it immediately after the tank, and before the skimmer, in your
water flow.

That advice is for the plants. Note that refugiums are also typically
sources
of copepods and amphipods, which are fabulous live food for your reef fish
and
corals. For that purpose, it's a shame to grow some 'pods in the refug,
only
to have them sucked up into a downstream skimmer and killed there. Some
people even claim that the return pump is too much, as it might chop up
'pods
making their way downstream. The absolute ideal for a 'pod-factory
refugium
is to have it physically above the main tank, and have a slow flow of
water
only gravity-drain into the main tank. That way, the maximum rate of
'pods
can grow in the refug and fall, alive, into the main tank as food.

Summary: it doesn't really matter. But if filtering is your main concern,
might as well put the refugium first, and skimmer second.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis
http://reef.geddis.org/
In judo: When pushed, pull; when pulled, push.
In aikido: When pushed, turn; when pulled, enter.