refugium size

i have a 265 gallon reef tank. no lps or sps, just soft corals (i want to graduate to lps and sps). i have a refugium/ats combo and was told the tank used to house the ref/ats is too small and not enough water flow.
what size tank should i use for a ats/refugium combo?
i just purchased a 30 gallon tank and i think that may still be too small. is 30 ok?

 

Im sure someone will chime in, im guessing 55 gallon sump.. do use have the room under your main display tank for that?

man I wish I had a 265g, only in my dreams!

 

most tanks I have seen over 250 gallons use a 75 as a sump/fuge.

 

The rule of thumb for a fuge is 10% system volume. Not sure what the rule of thumb for a ATS area is. Why are you doing both? If all you are going to have is a fuge for pods, then I don't think it really matters. Are you putting algae in your fuge plus the ATS?

The rule of thumb for fuge flow is 10x fuge volume/hr. So if you did a 30g for your fuge on your system, then you want 300gph. Again, I don't know flow rate fro a ATS.

 

thanks for the reply all! for starters, i have plenty of room. my tank is in my wall and everything is in the next room, which is my garage. 10% of my system volume would be 26.5 gallons, then a 30 would be ok, a 55 even better! i want to section it off.
-water flows into 4 inch section. then overflows onto the ats. underneath, deep sand and small fishes, possible sea horses.
-a 20 inch section for mangroves and chaeto.
-1" return to the sump. all gravity feed. main pump is in the sump. along with protein skimmer, uv, chiller, heater, cal reactor and monitors.

 

sounds like a fun project. 30g sump will be more like 15-20 after DSB, equipment, and back siphon room. if you have the room bigger is better when it comes to sump/fuge. agreed with above post about 55g fuge. but since you already have the 30 perhaps just stay with it and use the 30g in addition to the current sump in place.. be sure to insulate tank as much as you can if you bring the fuge out to the garage.

 

I think you may be complicating things a bit. The reason for cheato, or mangroves, or an ATS is for nitrate and PO4 export. By having all of them, I don't think you will have enough nutrients to feed them all. They will fight for what's available and one will win out.

Not sure why you want fish or a seahorse down there. One reason for a fuge is for pods to grow without being eaten. So fish or a sea horse will defeat that purpose.

And ya, 30 for the fuge alone, but you will need the 55g for a sump as well. I mean together. 55g for all, or even a 75g for sump/fuge as was mentioned.