Fluval as a sump?

[megadon]

I finally took all the media out of my Fluval canister and put some of the extra rock in it to uncrowd my tank and make room for new editions and hopefully have a place for pods to thrive. Now the only filter I have is the skimmer and rock, is this where I want to be? Will it cut out my Nitrates? I have a decent sand bed and pretty much a lifghtly loaded tank so I am hoping this change will keep the Nitrates down as they've been drifting from 20 to 40 and I change 20% every 2 weeks. My Hammer coral looks well but I have lost my Emerald Crab and my second Mexican Trochus snail over the weekend, before the water change.

 

[kennynj]

I'M NOT SURE HOW THIS WOULD WORK, BY TAKING THE INTERNAL
BASKETS OUT OF THE FLUVAL THERE MAY NOT BE GOOD WATER FLOW THROUGH THE ROCK. THE NITRATES OF 40 ARE A LITTLE
HIGH BELOW 10 OR 0 IF POSSIBLE WOULD BE IDEAL. PERHAPS
IF IT'S POSSIBLE YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO ADDING A REFUGIUM
ABOVE THE TANK. PUMP WATER TO IT WITH A POWER HEAD THEN
LET THE WATER GRAVITY FEED BACK INTO THE TANK. ADD YOUR
LIVE ROCK, LIVE SAND, CALUPRA, AND LIGHTING. IN THE LONG
RUN THIS WILL HELP LOWER THE NITRATES. THE OTHER WAY WOULD BE TO ADD A SMALL SIZE TANK AS A SUMP AND REFUGUIM
SIPHON WATER DOWN AND PUMP IT BACK TO THE TANK.