Upgrades to my 60 cube, advice appreciated! (newbie to CTARS)

[TonyGugino]

Hey all,

So I am looking to do some upgrades to my cube, as in using my old 30 gallon tank to upgrade my current 20 gallon sump and then my old 10 gallon cube for an ATO reservoir.

Does anyone have any good sites for baffle heights on sumps? Should I create a refugium in my sump or go with a skimmer?

For the ATO, any good info for DIY ATO or is it less of a hassle to just go with a premade kit and throw it onto my reservoir.

I am back to CTARS after a longggg hiatus (was a member when I was a wee lad and meetings were held at the Puppy Center in West Hartford) I am hoping to make it to a meeting soon so I can make some reef friends and become more of a member in the CTARS community.

Thanks in advance!
Tony

 

[ndrwater]

Sump baffles should be set to whatever height your skimmer needs if possible. A fuge is nice to have, but if I had to pick between skimmer and fuge, skimmer wins every time.
IMO a RELIABLE ATO is a must. I use the Tunze and haven't looked back. Thing is rock solid and worth the dough.
DIY is great, but in a situation where failure isn't an option, I would go the tried and true Tunze

 

[kgstei]

Welcome back to the reef and welcome to CTARS. Where are you located ? I am far from an expert but I would agree skimmer over refugium. I have a smart ATO and I hate it I remember at a past meeting people were talking about gravity-fed ATOs and they seem to be pretty happy with them. With some design one thing to watch out for is siphons from your main tank when you have power failures you don't want to end up with your sump overflowing.

 

[TonyGugino]

I was thinking it was going to be a skimmer all the way, now just to figure out the ATO.

Can you do a gravity fed ATO with something as big as 10 gallons? The tank I want to use is actually drilled in the bottom right corner so I do already have a feed out. Will try to get pictures up soon.