Need Refugium suggestion please

[crank2211]

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as a beginner soon to be reefer and first time poster. So far I've learned a ton of information from this site, so thank you everybody! My original plan was to start a FOWLR system and I ordered the equipment as such. It only took a couple days after that initial decision to realize I wanted to host anemones and coral life as well. 2 things had to change. Firstly I needed better lighting than the fluorescent's that came with my hood and I wanted to start off with a sump/refuge instead of a canister filter.

The lighting issue I believe is solved with a Nova Extreme fixture (2 UVL 10k's and 2 UVL 420 Actinic's). The refug/sump issue I could use a hand with.

The new reef will be housed in a 55 gallon tank. Unfortunately the stand it sits on will not allow me to put a 20L underneath to act as the sump and refug. This is because I only have 11.5" of space to work with under there. So my new plan is to use a 10 gallon tank as the sump and elevate 2 Rubbermaid containers to act as the refug. The containers do not hold much water, 12Qt's total (16.7" x 11" x 6.9") , and I would like to maximize the amount of water in my setup, hence the desire to use 2.

I have two possibilities for this setup.

1.) Have a 2 tiered refug so that one will overflow into the other and finally in the return section of my sump. Ideally I would like to do it this way so I can save some space but my worry is that the second fuge will be worthless because everything that could happen, would happen in the first one. Would this be an inefficient setup? I'm not sure.

2.) I could setup each container at the same level on the other side of the sump and use the entire cabinet. I have a feeling this might be a more efficient setup as it works a higher volume of "tainted" water at the same time, however I would need to source 2 new lighting fixtures as opposed to 1 that the tiered setup would require.

What's everyone's thoughts? I've included some pictures.

Thanks!@

[Seige]

New to the hobbie but I'd think the main difference would be lighting, heat from lighting, and your access ability for maintenance. How are you planning to light the stacked refugiums?

I have a similar issue. My cabinet won't hold a standard 24" 20g sump so I'm thinking of building a custom sump out of acrylic to match the cabinet area. My cabinet is 22" wide, 15" deep, and 26" high. It should barely fit the in tank skimmer in the sump-refugium. I'll need to fit lighting and an automatic top-off in there too. ;-)

[zhenya]

Hi crank2211,

1.) Have a 2 tiered refug so that one will overflow into the other and finally in the return section of my sump. Ideally I would like to do it this way so I can save some space but my worry is that the second fuge will be worthless because everything that could happen, would happen in the first one. Would this be an inefficient setup? I'm not sure.

I too think it would not be practical to have two small refugiums basically doing the same thing. Why not elevate refugium(larger one) above your display (if possible) and have it drain via gravity into it? Refugiums become their own ecosystems after awhile and can provide just as much entertainment as your main display. ;)