Rearranging my cabinet

[Lori_inFL]

My water box peninsula 7225 has limited space in the cabinet. The sump proper takes up most of 4 feet of the 24" wide cabinet, leaving a 23" x 24" section that holds the ATO and the 4" deep contoller box.

I set this up with the 12" x 17" ATO running so the long dimension runs across the width of the sump as per WB diagrams. There are very narrow areas on each side and the space between the ATO box and the controller box isn't all that usable either. So I am going to rotate the ATO 90° so there will 12" x 24" of open area.

The question is should I devide this into two areas say 6" by 23" on each side or shove the ATO to one side, leaving a larger open area? Refilling the RODI water with a pump makes no difference but pouring from a 5g bucket would be better with it to one side or the other. A side question is having a doser line run all the way over to the refugium maybe 25"+ bypassing the protein skimmer area going to be problematic?

 

[UncommonSense]

shove the ATO to one side, leaving a larger open area?

This!

Two long, narrow openings are just asking to have stuff lost in the back!

A single 11”-12” wide free space leaves much more room for activities!

A side question is having a doser line run all the way over to the refugium maybe 25"+ bypassing the protein skimmer area going to be problematic?

This actually can be an issue for some dosers, likely due to the small tubing diameter causing frictional flow loss over long distances…

Increasing the tubing diameter one size for most or all of the distance should mitigate this issue!

 

[Lori_inFL]

shove the ATO to one side, leaving a larger open area?

This!

Two long, narrow openings are just asking to have stuff lost in the back!

A single 11”-12” wide free space leaves much more room for activities!

A side question is having a doser line run all the way over to the refugium maybe 25"+ bypassing the protein skimmer area going to be problematic?

This actually can be an issue for some dosers, likely due to the small tubing diameter causing frictional flow loss over long distances…

Increasing the tubing diameter one size for most or all of the distance should mitigate this issue!

Thank you! The peninsula has doors on both sides, so there isn't an area in the back to lose stuff. Doubt that changes your answer. Once I rotate it, shoving it from one side to halfway or the other side won't be as difficult.