I'll take a quick stab at a few items...me in blue

Quote Originally Posted by jrossjr79 View Post
I have recently moved into a bigger house, yay!!! So I now have room for a tank. I am thinking of a 150 Gallon reef tank with a refuge sump and a protein skimmer. Here alas some questions to know how I need to set everything up.

How big of a refuge sump tank would I need to efficiently filter my display tank of 150G? What Allan said, largest possible, I would say atleast 75gallons of sump water...preferably 100g+

How does all the plumbing work? To be more exact I know I need a pump to go from the sump to the main tank, but do I need a pump coming from the main tank to the sump? Or is it all done with gravity of overflow? Refuge/sump will be on the bottom if that helps any? What Allan said, overflow/drilled tank (skip the hang on back or HOB overflows and go with a drilled tank), water is sent back to tank with a pump. Also all equipment I want on bottom, Chiller and heater if I need them, protein skimmer, hydrometer (or does this need to be in the display tank?). How would I keep the sump or main tank from overflowing with a power outage? You would simply drill a couple of holes in your return nozzles to create a reverse syphon...as water drains from the tank to the sump it will catch air and breakt he syphon preventing your sump from being overflowed with tank water. It's important that your sump can hold the difference though and may require some testing to get it just right.

Also would like to know with this kind of setup is it beneficial to having an ozone reactor or UV Steralizer, or are those things I can do with out? You can do without those for now, add them as needed if ever they are needed, perhaps keep an open design with room and space to add equipment later.

I know alot of these are noobie questions, but been having trouble finding the answers on my own, since it seems that just about all tanks are different in regards to all this. Have you thought about maybe trying a smaller scale first? Perhaps a all in one unit to get some of the basics down first or maybe a 40-50g cube that could later be used as a frag tank to the 150g you mentioned? Just a thought. I look forward to seeing your progress .