RedSea Refugium prior to skimmer chamber? Why?

[MAKeefe]

I have a Peninsula 650 arriving this week and I'm trying to figure out which side to mount the doors on but this leads to my question, what is the philosophy to have the water flow in the sump go through the refugium first and before the skimmer?

 

[Freddy0144]

I have a Peninsula 650 arriving this week and I'm trying to figure out which side to mount the doors on but this leads to my question, what is the philosophy to have the water flow in the sump go through the refugium first and before the skimmer?

There are fine nutrient rich particles the skimmer will pull out prior to going to the Refugium these serve as food for cocopods and amphapods plus help the algae grow. Otherwise the growth will be less productive.

 

[RomoFL]

Sorry to being up a dead thread but I’m curious - wouldn’t the skimmer kill a lot of the pods coming out of the refugium before reaching the DT?

 

[clm65]

There is a BRS video that talks about which one should be first. I believe the recommendation in the video was skimmer before refugium, but it was a soft recommendation, with pros and cons for each configuration. Not all of the water passing through the skimmer chamber will be pulled into the skimmer, so it is not going to suck out all the nutrients or all the pods. Bottom line, I don't get the impression that you can go wrong with either configuration.

Edit: here is the video
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...-protein-skimmer-before-or-after-my-refugium/