New reef tank

[bjpembo]

as big as you have room for. a 20L should be fine, but a 30L of course would be better because its larger and will increase your water volume by 10 more gallons. i use a 30L on my 75, i wish that i had room for a larger one though.

[JustDavidP]

I have a friend, with a 40 gallon display, and a 100 gallon barrel as a sump with fuge. ANYTHING you can do to increase the water volume is a good thing. If you can only fit a 20 under ...so be it. If you can go larger...do as the Nike folks say..."just do it".

As far as "how big" the fuge should be, in relation to the entire sump... set up your sump dry. Place your skimmer, return pump, heater and anything else in there that you need. Find the best way to position them...and ALL THE REST of the space should/could be refugia. Of course, you can also have above tank or tandem refugia elsewhere now, or later. I'm referring to the newly popular sump/fuge combos.

Also remember, your sump itself, with or without rock/sand/macro is a sort of refugium. I have just as much "life" in those chambers (pods, mysid, worms, even some alga) as in the fuge.

Dave

[Reptoreef]

I have 2 sump/refugiums... 1 houses my skimmer and is kept unlit(lots of sponge growth and barebottom and live rock that then flows into a 3 chamber DSB/plenum/return refugium with the first 2 chambers loaded with chaeto, saw caulerpa, and xenia(lighted opposite of the main display)... the last houses the 900GPH return pump.