Hi,
I'm planning a reeftank of about 1000L display and 400L sump, frag, refugium (about 370 gal total).
After reading through a lot of the threads on this forum, I'm convinced the system will benefit from an AS. I'm planning to let the AS drain into the refugium which in turn drains into the display (all with no pumps in between, increasing the survivability of pods). So the AS will be a separate acrylic box fed by the return pump(s) wich deliver 8000 L/hr of net flow (2100 gph).
I'm making the box myself and dimensions can go up to 150cm wide by 30cm high (59inch wide x 12inch high) lit on both sides with 660nm LEDs. There are no constraints towards building either one of the systems, both are possible and viable in my setting.
Creating the AS this big is due to maxing out the dimensions to have sufficient capacity for an sps dominant heavily stocked tank with an automatic continuous feeding system. In essence, I would like to feed the maximum until the AS can't keep up with the nutrients.
The question i'm struggling with is wether to go with a UAS or WAS. I have enough flow for a WAS with 130cm of screen and an UAS would roughly be the same screen width since I would add a bubble catcher chamber before the drain into the refugium. Such a screen would theoretically allow me to feed about 130ml/day (40 cubes) if I calculated correctly.
In the end it comes down to the question wich of the two systems would offer the best performance.
Any advice and/or opinions are welcome.