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Krish,
My sump/refuge has only 2 chambers, its an old 55 acrylic tank. Being fairly new to refugiums when I started I just went ahead and put my skimmer in the first chamber (where the overflow empties into) with my sand bed and calpura. Is this horrible? I wonder if I'm killing my pods and other beneficial stuff by not having the skimmer isolated.
The hardest part about the skimmer not having its own chamber is regulating the water height, but other than that it APPEARS to function fine.
Do you think I need to redesign?
 
It's gonna take me a while to figure out exactly how I am going to do it, but I plan to add a sump to the future 7.5 reef tank. This article has helped a bunch! I am planning to drill through the stand straight down and into the sump, and having the return also drilled straight up. I just wonder if an overflow box is needed? or should I go with a straight bulkhead only overflow?
 
Krish,
My sump/refuge has only 2 chambers, its an old 55 acrylic tank. Being fairly new to refugiums when I started I just went ahead and put my skimmer in the first chamber (where the overflow empties into) with my sand bed and calpura. Is this horrible? I wonder if I'm killing my pods and other beneficial stuff by not having the skimmer isolated.
The hardest part about the skimmer not having its own chamber is regulating the water height, but other than that it APPEARS to function fine.
Do you think I need to redesign?

It's hard to say. I'd imagine if the feed pump is sitting where the pods are they may get pulled into the pump and into the skimmer etc. With a sump that size though, it should be really easy to add another chamber in there which is what I'd probably do. I've altered one particular sump of mine quite a few times to suit my needs. :)


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It's gonna take me a while to figure out exactly how I am going to do it, but I plan to add a sump to the future 7.5 reef tank. This article has helped a bunch! I am planning to drill through the stand straight down and into the sump, and having the return also drilled straight up. I just wonder if an overflow box is needed? or should I go with a straight bulkhead only overflow?

With the tank being so small, going without a box may be the route to go. One benefit of having an overflow box is to hide plumbing, but it will probably take up too much precious space. You can use something like a strainer in the end of your drain pipe or make your own which I've seen a few people do here. The main thing will be to make/replicate the right type of drain setup (link a standpipe) otherwise you will probably end up with a lot of gurgling etc from the drain itself. If I can get on a pc, I'll see if I can fetch some pics of what others have done where overflow boxes weren't used. :)


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