Big Habeeb wrote:

I have the tank setup in what will be its final
position...unfortunately I realized too late on Saturday that I didn't
have a good surge strip around to setup all the various bits and
pieces, so tonight I'll pick that up so I can actually get started.

You might also want to put most of this on a GFCI outlet. Only use this outlet
for things that are actually in the water (like heaters). If the GFCI trips, it
will be a real problem trying to figure out which piece of equipment tripped it,
but leaving that faulty equipment on the tank can kill fish.

1. Where should I place the heater? The LFS recommended dropping it
either into the refugium or into hte overflow box...any opinions on
that?

Given that choice, I would put it in the overflow box.

2. Protein skimmer. I have one. It's put together and sitting in my
refugium. A couple things I'm unsure of: the 'waste' tube...where
should that be pointing? The guy at the store said just to stick it
into a soda bottle or something...agree on that? Other
question...where should the power pump go for the skimmer? I have the
pump for the overflow in the 'clean' side of the refugium, but was
unsure where to position the pump for the skimmer...Should it be in
the water in the ref.? Does it matter if it's on the dirty or clean
side?

The waste tube can go in any sort of collector - mine is routed to an old coffee
jar. Just make sure that the collector is large enough to contain several day's
effluent. The location of the input doesn't matter, since the skimmer will pull
out stuff that the other filters won't touch. It runs just as well on "clean"
water as "dirty."

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.