Modification of sump to incorporate refugium?

[ccso139]

I have an amiracle sump (not sure of the model number), that only has two chambers and I want to modify it to a three chamber unit to incorporate a refugium. The dimensions of the tank are as follows: 24" long, 10" wide, 14" tall. The sump is divided by a wall that starts at the top and ends about 2" from the bottom of the tank, in the middle of the tank, giving 2 12" chambers. Beside this wall is a sponge and piece of egg crate that is approx 4" tall (to hold the sponge?).

Now to my questions:

(1) If I use the first 12" chamber for the overflow to drain into w/ the skimmer in this section, will the skimmer be able to do it's job effectively enough since some of the water is gonna get bypassed by going under the wall? Also, could I put live rock in this chamber, just to have more filtration?

(2) Can I remove the sponge and place a baffle and make a refugium here? Without the sponge this 2nd chamber will be approx. 9"L x 10"W x 9"T, (w/ the sponge-- it'd by 3" shorter) would this be a large enough area to do a refugium for a 55g tank? Or would it not be enough to waste the time? Also, what would be the best method (if there is one) to keep the DSB from going under the wall and back into the skimmer chamber. Could I put a something where the egg crate is now and leave the rest of it open? This would give a retaining wall for the DSB of about 4 inches and another 5" for the LR rubel and macro algae.

The third chamber would be for the return pump and heater.

What does everyone think? Will it work or just be a waste of time and money?

I know this is a LONG question, but any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

What size of display tank is this for? Do you have room under your tank for a 10 gallon tank?

The reason for this is, the refugium your talking about is kindda small. But it will help but not as much as you might want.

I would use a add on tank as the refugium if you have the space.

 

[ccso139]

Hi

What size of display tank is this for? Do you have room under your tank for a 10 gallon tank?

The reason for this is, the refugium your talking about is kindda small. But it will help but not as much as you might want.

I would use a add on tank as the refugium if you have the space.

Display tank is 55g. No, there isn't any more room for adding an additional tank. The stand is both to narrow and short to add anything under the display tank.

Edit: Deciding to not take someone else's word for it, I measured underneath the stand and have an area of 31.5L X 30W X 14T to work with. I actually have a height of about 20" to work w/ but because of the height of the skimmer, it is much less. I've thought about cutting out an area to hang the skimmer and that would give me a bit more height overall for a tank, but I have to consider how that would effect water level and don't think that will help other than being able to buy a tank instead of having to custom build one.