Thinking about starting a giant sump/fuge

[NemoFish]

Hey all i'm starting up a 220 gl tank, its all set up and running i've added LS/LR and its all done cycling holding only a tiny little lemon wrasse... I've got a good 50 gal sump for it, and i want to add in a fuge into my sump...its my first time so i've got a few questions (links work great!!!)...The way i have things set up i've got a filter pad into bioballs into sump then to the UV sterlizer then back in. Simple enough,
1. I want to put a fuge into the sump before it its the UV sterlizer. Can i do that or would the micros be destroyed before the tank gets the benifets.
2. What and where do i get the things to put into my fuge. Live sand and live rock i can do now. Where do i get the algae and whatever else i need What critters do i need?
3. I dont really use skimmers for my tanks, but is this a good replacement?

Any good links on howto set one up and what to do with it would be great thanks.!

[IBMGeek]

First of all you can do a search for sump setups. I find melevsreef.com very useful for sump setups. Also i think you should put the fuge after the uv if you want pods and such. Also protein skimmers are very important but it is possible to keep a tank without one. And i would remove the bioballs unless you plan on cleaning them regularly.

What do you plan on keeping?

[Blade_Runner]

+1 on Mel's reef. Good stuff. I based my sump on info from there.
The UV should be before the sump/fuge, but IMO not a big deal. Think about flow rates. With a 200 gal tank you are probably going to push 2000+ gph through the fuge. You can only push 1/10th of that through the UV.

[NemoFish]

Thanks for the site i'll check it out, I've got the Sump thing down now moving on to the advanced.

I've heard a lot of Skimming and how its importance, but i've kept lots of FOWLR tanks with just that sump, bioball, uv. FO worked for me too. My understanding with bioballs is you leave them alone, once the nitrates start maintaining you have to do a change on them. am i wrong?


The UV was set up as a the last peice the water hits before entering. I've had little problems with my tanks, been running for a good year and half now.

So for a big system i want lots of water flow into my fuge? that might be hard to do lol.

-

I want to keep a reef.

[IBMGeek]

You can keep a tank without a protein skimmer but a skimmer will make your tank water quality better and make your life easier. Also when the bacteria is present on the bioballs you only remove a portion of them say 25% to clean so you dont shock the tank by removing all the good bacteria.

[NemoFish]

Exactly, only a little at a time...As long as i keep up with my filter cleaning my water stays crystal clear.

Where can i get the macro algae at?

[coral reefer]

Cheap, Easy DIY Sumps
I just added a 75gallon refugium type set-up that is attached to my 125gallon reef! Going to try to replicate a tidepool zone in it!! Urchins, Shrimp, and other inverts with a few corals and macroalgae!