Sandless Fuge?

[brewercm]

Anybody running a sandless fuge with just cheato and possibly mangroves stuck through styrofoam etc.?

Thinking of going this route rather than using a sand bed in the fuge but wanted some input.

[Ping]

Eventually you will have detritus buildup. One inch of sand will provide habitat for micro infauna and pods to reproduce and help breakdown the detritus.

[jc]

You could vacuum out the detritus when you do a water change. I don't have sand in my sump/fuge and you will see the dirt build up on the bottom.

[seatrueblue]

You could use live rock rubble insted of sand. Just curious, why don't you want to use sand?

[brewercm]

No particular reason, just figured what was the point since I'm just going to be going with cheato and mangroves and neither require sand. Just one more thing to go bad in the tank and that's where my water is drained from during water changes so I'd be vacuuming that area during that point anyways.

[blindside]

I use live rock rubble instead of sand all I have in there is chaeto and some pods, looks good so far

[Marlin]

I have just live rock in the refugium/sump and my display tank is also bare bottom. It's easy to clean and no place that traps detritus. I decided to go with no sand in the refugium after I tore down one of my tanks and emptied out the refugium. The crud that had accumulated in the sand smelled awful.

Rick

[profntbtr]

it's expensive, but i've had good experience with miracle mud.

[Troutmasters02]

I've heard good things about mud, I have about 2" of sand in my fug with plenty of macro and critters. Everything is doing just fine.

[brewercm]

After yesterdays meeting I was glad to see that other than my sump being just a little different in design which is no big deal, that I was looking good on flow. I was kind of worried because you can hardly see much water movement within the fuge area before the return but I feel much better now. Still think I'm going to go sandless though for now and see how it works out as the algae I'm planning doesn't require any rooting area. I've always liked less flow through my sump area anyways so the skimmer works a little more efficient. He did help me make a decision on my lighting though and the one he was talking about sounded like a good fit for my system.

[Troutmasters02]

I couldn't go :( What else did they talk about?

[brewercm]

He covered a lot about sump design that he has learned over the years of building and planning out different sumps. Also the mention I made about my flow that is running through my sump which is probably around 600 - 700gph after SQWD etc. on my 58 gallon tank is probably just fine. He mentioned a 10 to 15 time turnover volume through your sump and any more flow you want in your tank come from powerheads, closed loop, etc.
Of course mine looks very calm in my sump as it's almost the same size as my tank. Very good information and you can find all kinds on his website at www.melevsreef.com if you've never been there.

[Troutmasters02]

Thanks for the heads up. Melevsreef is a great website for info and experiences.

[ErikH]

Cliff, although I have sand in my sump/fuge, I pointed a MJ1200 into a corner so it tumbles my chaeto. As long as you have enough, it should stay put. Why not just DSB it and yank the skimmer? :D You would probably be fine with enough macro...

[brewercm]

Then I can't watch that huge Octopus Extreme 300 at work.:bigsmile: