Man, its kind of a long story, and probably the most embarrassing part of it is my fear of trying to do much of anything diy from a plumbing standpoint. Basically, I'd really like to buy an out-of-the box system with all of the hoses and connections I need, connect everything together, and turn it on... plug and play. I'm not very handy, so to speak, so doing things like designing and building my own custom sump and plumbing is for, a bit over my head. So that leaves me with nice box systems like, for instance, Eshopps series of sumps and filters. As it is, I have a brand new, dual output eshopps hang on overflow. Looking at the eshopps systems, the ones that seem to fit the best with my tank size are the WD-150CS... a wet/dry filter with 2 chambers that is 24" long, or the one I'd really like to have, the R-200... a refugium with 3 chambers that is 30" long. Problem is, tank is setup and running, and I'm not tearing it down to install a refugium. However, the R-200 is to long to fit into the stand. I can remove the front beam of the stand to fit it in, but I fear doing that due to the weight of the tank. Meanwhile, the WD-150CS is 24" long, instead of 30"... and I can fit that nice and neat, right through the door. Whichever one I choose... I want it to match my dual output overflow box.
So as you can see... this is part "newbie inexperience", part "I suck at diy, and am afraid to do it with plumbing because I don't want to flood my basement" and part "I really like the eshopps products, that come with almost everything in the box I need, and simple to understand connections". Currently, I only have power jets circulating water through and around about 200 lbs. or so (maybe a bit more) of live rock in the tank. I want to add something else... be it sump/refugium, wet/dry, skimmer, or some combination of the three. This is basically what I am trying to figure out. What's easiest and best for me, that will still give me a nice system long term.
I'm sure this probably seems crazy. But here I am. Two systems that match my dual output overflow, but one too long to get into the stand without having to remove part of the stand, and the other that does fit, only having 2 chambers instead of 3, prompting me to consider using an HOB skimmer instead of an in sump unit.
That's my long embarrassing story. LOL...
-Rich