How Is My Custom Sump Or Refugium?

[springnite]

Hello guys, i came out a concept about my custom sump and refugium but i dont know wheather it makes any mistakes. So i need pros to help me have a look and tell me what are the mistakes.

Here is my concept:

First the water will flow out from the tank and down into the sump, then i will put some rock there to decrease the noise. Then the water will come out from the top and flow down into my refugium. I will put some plants or sand or rocks there. And my algae will grow at there to produce nitrate for my tank. Then the water will go to another section from the top. On the next section, i will put some bio balls, ceramic rings or ammonia remover balls on there to remove those dirty things( on this section, will these kind of things block my nitrate go back to the tank ?). Then i will get a protein skimmer on the next section after the bio balls section. Then the water will come out from the protein skimmer and go to the last section. Then the pump will pump the water back to my tank. Is that alright?

 

[SkiFletch]

Close but not quite. Current belief tends to lead towards having the protein skimmer first, followed by the refugium, and ending with the pump. The two main reasons for this order are firstly that the skimmer sees the dirtiest water and gets a chance to remove DOCs before they get to your chaeto or other macro where they can be trapped. Second, skimmers often times put out lots of micro bubbles which if they're in the first compartment have a greater ease of getting out by the time they reach the sump.

Bio balls are debatable. If you use them, make SURE you can remove them easily for cleaning/rinsing. Running carbon or phosphate binders in between your dividers and bubble walls is a great idea though, I do this myself.

Lastly, I know you didn't draw that to scale, but make sure that your last pump compartment has enough water volume. That's where evaporation rears its head and if there isn't enough water volume there, the pump can run dry.