fuge or not for sps tank?

Love my fuge even though I am going more the bacteria route lately. A big skimmer and a pile of chaeto will save you when something else goes wrong. And something always does...
 
I'm weighing the options here myself.


I have two tanks on the same system--- an SPS/LPS tank with high light (250w halide over 25g tank) and one soft coral/LPS tank with medium light.

I also have a 40g sump and a 29g refugium (ie, more sump than tank). I'm considering turning the 29g into a soft coral prop tank. I am growing xenia, mushrooms, and zoas quite well.

With both the soft coral tank perhaps the 29g refugium changed into a soft coral prop tank, I could do away with the refugium. I have a 15" cube in the same system that will become an SPS prop tank as soon as I can get light over it.

I am dosing vitamin C fairly aggressively right now and it's keeping phosphates quite low (nitrates were never an issue even before the VC because of the fuge).
 
Lots of people do the all in one type tanks, with no fuge, an no problems. I personally dont like the plumbing and noise associated with it, as well as the potential for floods, that a fuge gives you. I know you can be careful about design, but it seems to add work, noise, and risk without all that much benifit, IMO.
 
Question about fuges.

I currently am fuge-less (and I've got a crap ton of pods, so...).

At what point is a fuge too small to be effective in terms of controlling NO3 & PO4? I've toyed around with the idea, but I would only have ~3-4 gallons with macro on ~80g TWV.

Effective, or pointless?
 
How much NO3 and PO4 are we talking about? Lower levels will probably be kept low, even with a bit of extra input, but I wouldn't expect any miracles out of something that small.
 
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