sump/refugium

well i have a 55 gallon setup now but i was thinking about adding a 10gallon sump to it out of a 10 gallon tank i have laying around. i have the idea of how i want it setup up and such, but i'm wondering what i should put in there i have seen some layouts with eggcrates that seems to take place of the filter, or should i just keep my penquin 330? also i'f i'm to add a refugium to the setup will i still need to put in a protein skimmer? and if so does it go before or after the refugium?

sorry for all the questions :-[

 

Well if you had the room, I'd put the skimmer before the refugium, but a 10 gallon sump isn't much.

If I were you and had to use a 10 gallon sump, I'd throw a good skimmer in there with a heater and a sump pump and call it a day.

With a bigger sump you could have a refugium or have it in another sump which really would be better because you could control the flow through it. They are nice, but not as much of a requirement as a skimmer.

With the skimmer, some rock and sand, you could get rid of the penguin eventually. Just make sure your sump pump is big enough to make up for the flow you would lose.

hope this helps,

matt