fuge vs carbon

[armison89]

what would be better for a 29gal fowlr w/o a sump?

 

[Willistein]

Well, they accomplish different things, so it depends on what you want to do. Carbon is a water "polisher" and a refugium is for nurturing pods and nutrient exporters like macroalgae. I would highly recommend a sump for a myriad of reasons, although I had a 20 gallon without a sump for a year or so and it worked out great. A sump gives you a place to hide your heater, protein skimmer, auto-top off, etc, etc, etc.

 

[armison89]

im not going to use a skimmer or ato on this tank so all i would need to hide would be the heater and thats no big deal

 

[Willistein]

I'd probably vote for the fuge then, just because they're interesting to watch.

 

[truebeliever71]

+1 on the fuge! And you can always run carbon too. I do.

 

[tmz]

A small hang on fuge won't do much for nutrient control.
I'd definitely opt for granulated activated carbon to remove organics particularly with no skimmer.
Why is it an either/ or situation?