Quote Originally Posted by jrossjr79 View Post
Also I still have not gotten an answer for the hydrometer, can I put it in the sump/refuge tank, or does it have to be in the main tank?


As far as refuge designs, most designs I have seen have incoming water to both sides, one side being for the protein skimmer and the other side being a refuge, then the return water comes from the middle. My question for this is does the return have to be in the middle? If not, which way is better, intake to the skimmer then to refuge then to return area, or refuge to skimmer to return, or does this make much of a difference?

Also on the refuge, I was thinking about DSB, live rock, and algae, which algae would be better? Is there anything else I should add to it? Also do I put in the algae before, during, or after cycling of the tanks?
As for the hydrometer, I have seen and used the kind that constantly stay in the tank. I don't like these and wont ever use one again, as I had issues with algae growing on the inside and preventing the swing arm from operating properly.

There are pros and cons to both setups of sump/refugium designs. If the return isn't in the middle I would skim after the refugium. However, I like the design of the trigger systems crystal and ruby elite sumps. It drains into both the skimmer and refugium section, and the refugium then flows into the skimmer section. This is the both of best worlds in my opinion. This causes all the water to be able to get skimmed, while maintaining a low enough flow through the refugium to be beneficial as a refugium wont be as effective at higher flow rates.

I like to use a DSB and Live rock rubble with cheatomorpha (cheato) in the refugium as a starting point. If possible though growing many different types of macro algae is beneficial as each has its own niche of removing organics in differing ratios and so I think you get a little better competition from your macros for the "undesirable" algae that will grow in your display tank.