[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by Binare

Your skimmer really should have first crack at the waste water. It removes detritus and other solids (food, fish crap, etc.) before they can enter the refugium, these cannot be processed by cheato or liverock and just end up as waste rotting away and contributing to nitrate problems. Then of course you have the problem of pods and any other lifeforms being destroyed by the skimmer before they can even get to your tank. So I say, let skimmer do its job, removing waste. Then let your refugium do its job, providing a safe (no predators), calm (low flow) place for pods, filter feeders etc to grow.

I take a different approach. Skimmers cannot process large particals of waste, Pods/critters/whatever in my LR and DSB can process/eat the larger pieces of garbage, producing a much smaller form for the skimmer to remove.

Just another point of view.