What is the best setup for the back of an Innovative Marine All-In-One tank (14 gallon)?

[Labora]

I'm at a cross roads about what to do with my rear built in sump.

This is the back of an IM tank (14 gallon). The first slot either houses a long thick filter sock or the caddy and gets the main water flow. The second slot can house a caddy, protein skimmer, or any other make shift thing. Could I make the second slot a refugium?

Lastly, I'm open to hanging something on the back like a hang on refugium/skimmer. Do you think a skimmer is a waste of space if doing water changes for a tank this small? Also the fine tuning can get old..

Right now I feel like I might have a really inefficient setup. I have:

1. filter sock with chemipure elite inside (high flow)
2. caddy full of eheim substrat pro (low flow)

However, now that I have copepods I am flirting with the idea of some type of refugium to keep their numbers up. Is substrat pro in very low flow even doing anything?

 

[Kellie in CA]

Personally, I have never used a skimmer. I do 2 gallon water changes every week and everything has been fine. Of course, I don't use a powerhead either... so I'm quite the rebel.
My tank is a bit bigger, but I use a MightyJet (I upgraded to the larger one), RFG Nozzles, Caddy, ATO, and a Heater. That's it.

 

[Obsessed Reefer]

In my Fusion 10 I have a caddy in the first chamber with floss on top, and carbon or Chemipure blue in the second slot. In my second chamber I have my heater and a K1 Nano protein skimmer. My third chamber has a Sicce 0.5 pump, the sensor for my ATO, and my pH and Temp probes.

I’m indifferent about the protein skimmer. It was working well, but all of a sudden just overflows no matter how low the water level is in the main body, and my water level of the tank hasn’t gone up, so I have to figure that out.

You could definitely convert the second chamber to a fuge, inTank sells a special basket just for that. You can also peel the black off the back of the tank to have a light for the fuge.

In terms of something HOB, I’m not sure with the dimensions of the tank and how the chambers are if that would be feasible.