how important is a fuge in a sump?

[Jritter02]

I've currently got a 24g reef nano. I have a 90g tank I plan on setting up in the next few months hopefully. I have an old 40g tank that I plan on turning into a sump. I'm seeing a lot of people with a fuge and a lot of people without one. How important are they? I planned on having the water come into the sump and going thru some type of prefilter. I thought about having it drain from there, Over top of some bioballs (are they even needed?) from there I was going,to have it go to another,chamber with a skimmer,then baffle,then live rock and sand,baffle, heater and return pump,to tank. Does this sound ok? I'd rather not have a fuge so that I didn't have to worry about lighting that area up along,with the tank. Input please?

[amber3k]

Mine comes down into some rock rubble and chaeto in the first chamber then to a skimmer them to a return pump. If I could change it, I would have my skimmer be the first chamber then do a center chamber with macro.

[Jritter02]

But with that you need to have a light on it at night right? I'm trying to avoid that

[danil]

Originally Posted by Jritter02

But with that you need to have a light on it at night right? I'm trying to avoid that

It's not required to have fudge section in your sump. Same with bioballs, sand, live rock etc. The main purpose to have a sump is for hiding all your hardware from your beautiful display tank. If you are OK with heater in your DT and HOB skimmer and some HOB media reactors you should be fine without sump at all. Your life rock IS your primary filtration system along with regular WC, power head and a skimmer you should be set. Though having sump is highly recommended . It will make your life easier and having fudge section in there can give you some benefits but its not critical. And yes if you grow some algae in your sump you have to have lights to grow it. You can run at during day or night it's not critical.

[Remmers]

I have been reading and asking this very same question the past few days.

I am leaning towards not using a fuge in my new sump,since I am running reactors and such Im not seeing a reason for a fuge.

It will open up my new sump and allow for more space for the return water and this will give me more displacement, and that is the biggest thing I have heard when using a sump.

[m0nkie]

a small fuge and chaeto won't do much to help export nutrients.. but they provide excellent place for pods to breed. It is a must for people who want to have fish like mandarins.

[rickbrown85]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

a small fuge and chaeto won't do much to help export nutrients.. but they provide excellent place for pods to breed. It is a must for people who want to have fish like mandarins.

But how do the pods get through the sponge into the last chamber and then through the return pump back into the DT?

[Royce7586]

i would skip the sand in the sump you wont have much flow on the bottom and want to be able to siphon stuff out from the bottom of the sump easy

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by rickbrown85

But how do the pods get through the sponge into the last chamber and then through the return pump back into the DT?

depending on your set up I guess. my sump has no filter. all that does is trap detritus which turns into nitrate.. the pods (even the large amphipods) travel through the pump into DT.