# What makes a sump a sump?



## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Hi all,

Weird question. What makes a sump a sump vs refugium? If you have all the same hardware in a single tank without dividers is its still classified as a sump or refugium? Or is there a specific reason why you must have multiple sections in your sump?

Setup:

10 gallon tank no dividers
4 inches of live sand
5 pounds of live rock
HOB skimmer
Heater
Chaeto
overflow outlet
Return pump


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

A sump is any tank that another tank drains into. Whether or not you put equipment in it doesn't change that fact. How many baffles/dividers you add doesn't change that either. 

A refugium is any chamber, reactor, or part of your water column that is isolated from the rest that acts as a suitable place for macroalgaes and/or nitrifying bacteria and/or copepods to grow.

If you're mystified as to how to optimally configure your sump, go to melevsreef.com for lots of pictures and diagrams and some great explanations.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

50seven said:


> A sump is any tank that another tank drains into. Whether or not you put equipment in it doesn't change that fact. How many baffles/dividers you add doesn't change that either.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

**

Thanks 50 and sig. It was a debate that I was having with a friend last night. I was calling my setup a sump / refugium and he said that it wasn't a sump just a overflow refugium. +1 for the win 

PS that was the best explanation I've ever read.


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