Total beginner - I have a 55 gal. Malawi tank full of Mbuna as well as a 30 gal. community tank.

One week ago I bought an AquaEuro USA 12 gal. which is currently cycling with live rock (I have already noticed organisms popping in and out of crevices) and an app. 1" in sand bed.

The tank has a Koralia 1 powerhead and I ordered a maxi jet 1200 to replace the main pump for the return.

Currently, I have a DIY prototype egg crate media rack in chamber 1 with filter floss and a sponge. Chamber 2 holds live rock. The heater is in chamber 3 and the powerhead is in chamber 4.

I bought an underwater 5W LED and I plan to build a refugium from egg crate for chaeto and live rock.

Does anyone have any ideas as to which chamber is best to house this unit? In addition, I would like to use the existing pump somewhere in this filter/refugium setup for some extra water movement.

Should I cut down my bulkhead between chambers 1 & 2?

I am open to all suggestions.

Thanks

PS - Is this posted in the wrong forum?

I don't have an AE tank so I can't help with the design, but will throw this out for consideration. I know a lot of people use LR rubble in the back chambers of their AIOs, but unless you are religious about keeping it clean, you'll inevitably end up with a Nitrate problem. The same surface area that makes LR such a good biological media in the main tank actually clogs up, holds or traps waste & debri in the back of your tank. As all that organic matter decays, it ends up doing more harm than good. If space and "scaping" permits, you'd be better off adding a few more pounds of LR into the display and removing it from that back chamber. At least in the main portion of the tank, you can use a turkey baster to blow/clean it off right before your weekly water changes. Just my humber $0.02 worth.

Makes sense to me. Thanks for the input. I will definitely reconsider what media I will use for the filter rack.