I am in no way saying a fuge isn't a productive waste export system. From my limited personal experience it can attribute also be a negative if not setup correctly or maintained properly. I think you really have to look at your system design and filtration system to make that decision. If it is designed right, with proper and easy maintenance in mind the add water volume and additional water polishing can't hurt. That also depends on how much volume you have. That is why I really think a complete overall system design for long term and easy maintenance is a big key. Small patient changes have also worked way better for me. Wanting fast results usually affected other things. One big one for me was Algae out breaks. With a few SPS and my strong fish I have been lucky. I just don’t want to risk my fish that have been with now for years, and I sure as hell don’t want to kill my new corals. New QT in my future..
This year I am making some efforts to hopefully get my tank in the right direction for SPS. I have a 300 display with a 150 fuge and a 150 sump. Down the line if I move or get a bigger display whichever comes first. I am not going to add more volume to my fuge and sump. The extra volume also increases additives, salts and blah blah. I hopefully will have a sump sectioned out a little better. Like I said I only want my skimmed water going to my fuge. I most likely will have some type of mechanical filtration also before the skimmed water enters the fuge. Good flow with my live rock in the fuge and the standard reverse lighting. A few types of macro too. If my macro doesn't grow that well than oh well, at least I know good clean water is getting back to my display.
Before you remove it why don’t you give a run down on your system design first? I am sure there might be a lot of others with more experience that might be able to give you some more positive input. Another thing I remember a few years back a lot of people were big on putting the fuges overhead but that is a whole different topic.
