switching to fuge?

[sulley]

okay i have my tanks for 3 yrs now a 180 f/o and a 92 reef. when i bought them used they came with bioballs. that is how i have had them setup now the whole time. mind u i have no problems but the more i read i want to switch them over to a fuge. what is the best way to go about this in established systems or do i go about the theory if it aint broke dont fix it? any help would be appreciated. thought i would post here cause this is where the smart people are

 

[al mc]

I have a fuge/sump on both of my reef systems. I have them primarily to export nitrates and as a breeding ground for pods and other natural 'reef foods' as I have mandarins in each system.
In your situation if you have stable reefs for over a year I would question the benefit you would get from switching over to a fuge.

 

[sulley]

that's what i was wondering. it is a ton of work keeping up with trates in the 180 f/o just was wondering it would be beneficial. just constantly hear the bashing of the bioballs so thought may give it a go thanx for your reply

 

[big]

For a long time I just run a small sump. with a Always was fighting trates!!! When moving to our new home last year I built a large (50 gallon) basement sump-fuge with a new closed with Chaeto....... After a few weeks my trates had dropped to zero. I have even since modified it to hold more Cheato for more pod production (less sump more fuge). Heck I don't even bother with checking the Nitrates anymore because it stays at zero...... A large mass of Chaeto with good flow and I feel the single biggest improvement I have ever made to my system....NO MORE NITRATES.
Unless other things are out of whack, such as a very high Bio-Load, Overfeeding etc. A refugium with lots of Chaeto is the trick!...... Good Luck..... Warren

 

[notsonoob]

I third that. Mine is a two ten gallon split sump.
I keep one full of cheato and the other is my sump.
I haven't had an issue with anything ever since I did the switch. My second is going to have a 17 gallon tall aquarium for the fuge.
I also have a 20 gallon tall nano, that I put a 50 gallon HOB filter and a 20 gallon HOB filter, where I tore out the filters and filled it up full of cheato. Nitrates immediatly went twords 0. But I am going to build a 20 gallon long sump/fuge under it and make it into my sps frag tank.