[blown63chevy]

Hi all,
Well I need a little help in trying to design my sump for my new 150 g. I have an old 60 g tank that I am using for the sump. In there will be a turbofloater1000 protien skimmer, hang on penguin chemical filter and my magdrive 36 return pump. I have two overflow boxes with each one having two 1 inch tubes for water flow to the sump. Each overflow flows about 1000 gph so my total flow should be around 2000 gph. My current plans are to use the out flow of one of the overflow boxes and plum it directly into the skimmer and the penguin. I was playing with using the other overflow to dump thru a series of pleniums and then into the main area where the return pump will be. I was thinking of using one third of the tank as my sump/return pump area and the other two thirds as the plenium area for a refugum. My main question is will 1000 gph thru the refugium be too much flow? Any one have any ideas on how to best use the sump I have with the amount of flow that I want to run thru it? I am planing my return to be thru two gear drive sprinkler heads for top water movement and the rest of the flow will go thru a spray bar set up behind the rock work. I've read a lot of the threads on the web site and that is why I am thinking of setting up a refugum of sort. My other question is if I set up the refugum area, can I just use livesand and liverock in it and not run lights on it but still have all of the micro fauna grow in that area? Any help/advise on how to get the best possible use of this area is greatly appreciated.
Ray

[christopher williams]

with no light, your refugium will produce and maintain many critters. i recently cleaned my hank-on-the-tank skimmer (actually a skilter) and it was crawling with pods and even mysis shrimp. you have probably already considered running the refugium on a reverse photo-period to counter-act an overnight ph drop, increased lighting would of course produce a better fuge.