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They are not the same thing. Sumps are primarly used to increase the water volume of a system. A fuge more specifically is designed for nutriet export, depnding on what you keep in it. Both are benneficial.

A closed loop is also beneficial. You don't need a overflow when using a closed loop. It's PVC, and a pump. As you can imagine the pump sucks in water, and then pumps it back to the tank.

Check the other marine forum that has a recent thread about closed loops.

Actually, by definition, and by old school design and understanding, they are the same thing. A sump is just anything that collects a water drainage from somewhere else. A refugium is a "type" of sump, a cryptic tank is a sump, a bio ball filter is a sump, etc. Anytime you have an over flow of any kind, going to another holding tank, of any kind, then the holding tank is a sump.

A refugium by definition; An area that has escaped ecological changes occurring elsewhere and so provides a suitable habitat for relict species. And a fuge for a SW tank, is just that, a place for LR, that you don't want extra in your main tank. Or a place for creatures/plants/biological filtration to live and thrive (and work) and they won't get eaten but other creatures in the main tank, or won't eat other creatures in the main tank.

As for a "closed loop" system. This term has become widely used and discected. The original "closed loop" method, was designed with multiple sumps in mind. In other words, 3, 4, 5, 6, or more tanks/sumps, hooked together. In the end they were all tied together by a single loop of plumbing. They do still require an overflow for the main tank. The way these work, is to set up different areas with different required needs. For example; The overflow goes into a large sump filled with water and LR only. Then that sump goes into another sump, which has plants and is lighted. Then that sump goes to another tank with a deep sand bed. Then that sump flows into another tank, which is cryptic, and totally blacked out of light and has sponges for filtration. Then that sump, flows into another tank, that is filled with bio-balls, and then it is returned to the main tank with a pump. The reason this is a closed loop, is that it is all on one looped system from on tank to the next to the next to the next and so on. Instead of multiple over flows, and multiple returns for each tank. Depending on what types of filters you are using, this system can be not a good one to use. As cryptic tanks do better with a slow stream of water instead of high flow. But, they can be looped from one of the other sumps back into the system with a ladder effect, and still be considered a "closed loop" desiign. Here is an example of a 3 tank closed loop design;


With the new discovories in science and designs of many sumps, to seperate them from the old style sumps people have started calling them different names and refering them as not sumps. In an effort to differentiate them from the old school sumps. All this has done though, is cause confusion among new hobbyists. But, in the end, they are all sumps. As they are holding places for water run off of the over flow systems, be it closed loop or standard over flow, they are all sumps.

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Thats kind of a cool design, but theres a lot of questions I would need answered before trying that one. It seems to me that you would have to have everything perfect and kept perfect. One thing goes wrong and say goodbye to all those nice corals and fish you bought. Also, it seems as though the small amount of water flow would cause nitrates to skyrocket. Also, where would you do water changes from?

There are other ways of doing closed loops also..the main one being used today only consists of a pump and piping. Pretty much you drill the tank so the pump takes water from the tank, then returns it through new drilled returns or a manifold. There is no need for a sump for a closed loop.




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