[Spuds725]

I know my post was long winded-- I think skimmed is best (from what I've read) this is mainly to keep detritus from accumulating in the fuge-- if you have a "filter bag" that you can empty every few days you could probably run water directly to the fuge-- this was the only issue I had with feeding the tank water to the fuge directly-- I did this in an earlier tank.

The only reason I suggested running directly to my fuge is because I'm running such a small flow return pump-- this would increase my tank/sump exchange... rather then tee off my return to feed the fuge to set my skimmer flow.

but with my proposed setup, I'm really more concerned about a minimum tank/fuge exchange (volume wise)....this will really be controlled by the amount of sump return flow I end up with.

I'm not keeping a mandarin or anything but still want enough flow so the pods can get back to my tank, the fuge can help with pH control if I'm having any lighting/pH issues.

I'm still tweaking my DIY (recirculating) skimmer-- I think I got i dialed in pretty good now but had to raise the water level pretty high (about 2-3" below the lip of my collection cup)-- its producing a nice "dry" foam--- I estimate I'm running less then 50 GPH though my skimmer at this time-- I'm going to slowly kick up the flow to the skimmer and see how my skimmate production is affected.

Any comments from any "experts" would be appreciated as well as Anthony....

Thanks in advance...

Spuds