Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Hi guys and gals...more questions from me.

Ok, here it goes. 50 gallon tank, overflow box to a 10 gallon aquarium. Do I need to have some sort of union to adjust the amount of water going into the sump? Coming out of the sump? How should I set up dividers and such in the 10gallon tank? Im wanting to run my skimmer, heater and have some macro algae in the sump...do I need to put in anything else? Recommend return pump?

Im sorry, but Ive been searching, and Im just not getting the answers I was hoping. Pics would be great. I really dont know what Im doing here and definately dont want to make any mistakes.

If there is anything else I need to know, please tell me. I know I will need a light for the plants...I guess I can just plumb some pvc up for my return?

Have I asked enough questions? Should I ask some more?

Thanks again in advance.

There is no way you will be able to fit all of that in a 10 gallon sump. You may or may not want to include a union if you are using PVC, but it won't change the water flow. Are you thinking of a ball valve or something? If possible, you want your refugium to be fed separately from the skimmer--that is, you don't want what comes out of the 'fuge to be skimmed and you don't want skimmed water going into the 'fuge. Not that it won't work that way, but the performance of both is optimized this way. Preferably, you want everything to flow back into the sump, but nothing to overlap. Maybe branch off your overflow drain line to two separate ends and have the main pump in a section in the middle. That way they can be fed separately.

I would suggest at least a 20gal for the sump/fuge and maybe a Mag 7 for the return.

10 Gallon tanks are normally very thin. I was also be worried about it cracking while working down there. The glass on a 10 gallon is normally thin compared to a 20 gallon.

Thanks guys for the responses...looks like Im going to have to go with at least a 20 gallon. Will continue to research.

The best advice would be to go to http://www.reefcentral.com and read everything you can find on the matter. It will help you to see the different ways people have their setups.

Yea Ive been doing a ton of that. Was hoping for a footnotes edition.

So far all of the info Ive gotten is great. So thanks again

Check out melevsreef.com He has some good plans and some good articles about working with acrylic.