Design F -- good choice -- pretty much what I would call a standard sump layout. (link for anyone wanting to see it -- http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html)
Our sump / refugium set-up is basically the same as Design F (in principle), and has none of those things on the list your LFS said you should use. We have a single drain, which is split so that roughly 2/3 of the water enters the left compartment and 1/3 enters the right compartment. Our skimmer is in the left compartment, our refugium in the right compartment, and the return pump in the center (as pictured / labeled by Melev (Marc)). In between the baffles, I have LR rubble just to have some extra LR for bio-filtration. Whenever I want or need to run carbon or any other chemical media, I use a mesh media bag that I can also place in between the baffles. But, I seldom run any media -- between the LR, skimmer, macroalgae in the refugium, and regular water changes, there's little need to run any chemical media.
Ideally, you want the compartment for the return pump to be as large as possible. When water evaporates from the system, it is the compartment housing the return pump where it is noticable. If the compartment is too small, you'll have to top off quite frequently to keep the return pump under water. Remember... the baffles control the water level in the other 2 compartments, so the water level will not change in those compartments during use.
If there's enough LR in your system, there's no need for any ceramic rings or any other biological media. That's what the LR is for... bio-filtration. If you have aragonite sand in your tank, there's definitely no need to have a special section just for more aragonite (it's fine to put aragonite sand in the refugium). A sponge or filter sock to catch particles requires frequent maintenance to remove the detritus and honestly isn't all that necessary. Your skimmer will remove a lot of suspended particles / detritus along with organic matter, but there will certainly be some that settles out in the bottom of the sump. It's easily removed with a turkey baster, but you could put a filter sock over the end of the drain before it enters the sump if you'd rather go that route.
Our sump / refugium set-up is basically the same as Design F (in principle), and has none of those things on the list your LFS said you should use. We have a single drain, which is split so that roughly 2/3 of the water enters the left compartment and 1/3 enters the right compartment. Our skimmer is in the left compartment, our refugium in the right compartment, and the return pump in the center (as pictured / labeled by Melev (Marc)). In between the baffles, I have LR rubble just to have some extra LR for bio-filtration. Whenever I want or need to run carbon or any other chemical media, I use a mesh media bag that I can also place in between the baffles. But, I seldom run any media -- between the LR, skimmer, macroalgae in the refugium, and regular water changes, there's little need to run any chemical media.
Ideally, you want the compartment for the return pump to be as large as possible. When water evaporates from the system, it is the compartment housing the return pump where it is noticable. If the compartment is too small, you'll have to top off quite frequently to keep the return pump under water. Remember... the baffles control the water level in the other 2 compartments, so the water level will not change in those compartments during use.
If there's enough LR in your system, there's no need for any ceramic rings or any other biological media. That's what the LR is for... bio-filtration. If you have aragonite sand in your tank, there's definitely no need to have a special section just for more aragonite (it's fine to put aragonite sand in the refugium). A sponge or filter sock to catch particles requires frequent maintenance to remove the detritus and honestly isn't all that necessary. Your skimmer will remove a lot of suspended particles / detritus along with organic matter, but there will certainly be some that settles out in the bottom of the sump. It's easily removed with a turkey baster, but you could put a filter sock over the end of the drain before it enters the sump if you'd rather go that route.
