I'm new, please help.

dear thang45 from what i have read here, I understand the your refugium should have a slow flow rate comapred to the rest of the sump. So i would recommend your initial idea of the smikker on the right, return pump in the middle, and the refugium on the left. I would put a T fitting on the water in pipe, where one end would lead to the skimmer area and the other will have a ball valve to lower the flow of the water into the refuge area. More over i would add those 3 divider(bubble trap area) to the side in between in the skimmer and the return pump so no bubbles return into the display tank.

Thats what I think... Hope other chime in as well.

 

ThanksTundraburg.

The like the design you have mentioned, but the reason why I have doubted myself is because two LFS that I have been to in the past 2 days have their system setup like the second picture. They have been doing this for 20 years and told me that they have been very successful. I believe them because they are well known in the reef community in Toronto and all of their tanks are beautiful.

IMO, if both designs are equally effective then I think it is easier to go with the second design. Where the first section is the skimmer, second section is the refugium, and then the pump. What do you guys think?