Thanks for the info. I have been looking at some pictures of peoples sumps and refuge. What is the purpose of the fuge part? I see that many of these peoples sumps have a refuge but I do not see what they are doing for a filter, I have seen no bio-balls, foam, carbon…etc. How are they filtering there water? I was going this weekend to buy a 30gal tank to convert to a system like this, I am just confused with what I have to do, I see many different ways to put these baffles, yet in many I do not see any filter means in the baffles, while some of them I see foam, carbon…etc between the baffles that go to the next chamber. For the return pump can I use and pump from home depot or a pond pump, just something that has enough head to pump water up to the next floor. I take it that I do not need a pump to push it down stairs, as long as its self priming it will prime the feed line. The skimmers I am confused with all the diff types and which ones are better. I figure I would go with something a good size in case I want to upgrade my tank later I just wasn’t sure if I could build everything from local hardware stores or I had to mail order parts. If you could give me some insight on what to do to make an effective refuge/filter/sump so I can remove these biobags, I would appreciate it.

Thanks