Newbie seeks sump medium advise

[Oceandreamadean]

Hi all,
I'm now about to start my 1st reef tank :dance72"x36"x30") with a sump (72"x24"x20") & am wondering what's best (if anything) to have in my sump.
A couple of mates who are helping me, run their sumps with a deep sand bed. Some May class this as old school but they've had great results & great looking tanks. Some seem to run theirs with cheato & others don't have any medium at all. So what I really want to know is the pro's & cons or what you've had good results with. I look forward to your opinions/help.
P.S my DT & Sump capacity will be around 1700L (DT 1100L, Sump 600L) less displacement, if that has any bearing on the situation.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I've had a DSB in my refugium for over 9 years with no problems and I've never had nitrates in my tank. I keep some LR and chaeto in there. I don't keep any livestock in there but I did a crab a couple of weeks ago that I didn't buy

 

[Dan_P]

A few things that come to mind:

Sand beds do not need light. Macroalgae need light. Possibly a little fussier about circulation.

I have not seen a comparison of the two in terms of nitrate removal rate or capacity. I would guess the algae would have the edge in rate of removal.

You can harvest algae. You cannot harvest a sand bed (easily).

Macroalgae consume phosphates. Not sure how well sand beds remove phosphates.

Sand beds are something of mystery. Cannot really tell anything about their health. You can tell if macroalgae is healthy and growing.

 

[IanWR]

I went without a refugia area in my sump. Not saying others have not enjoyed some benefit, but i was not convinced of the nutrient reducing benefit of a small clump of macro. Then again, I don't have an enormous sump (tank is only 24"x30"x24"). My sump just has filter socks, skimmer, reactors (GFO & GAC), and return. I like that I don't have any algae growth to futz with, and any detritus that does collect is easily cleaned out.

An option to consider may be running a RDSB. You get the nitrate reducing benefits of a DSB without having to have it in your sump. That way if you don't end up liking it, or if it starts to not work, it's easy to remove/change.

 

[Oceandreamadean]

IanWR excuse my lack of knowledge but does the R in RSDB stand for removable? Could you explain a little further please.

 

[IanWR]

Remote DSB. Read about them here on RC. Basically a 5g bucket with about 60lb of sand, and a good flow across the top to discourage detritus settling. I was going to link a thread but there were too many.