Sand or no sand? (fuge related)

[CeeGee]

I will be setting up my sump/ fuge shortly and plan on running some chaeto in the fuge. Should I put sand in the bottom of the fuge or not? Most refugiums that I have seen have sand in them.

What is the verdict?

Thanks,
C.G.

 

[3rotorFD]

i have some sand in there. Very thin tho. and some little rock pieces. gives the pods/worms and all the critters some shelter.....
can't really tell the difference when i had so sand.

 

[KDodds]

Will this just be for Chaetomorpha grow out or for "critters" as well? If for critters as well, I'd say use sand, if not than sand doesn't really matter much.

 

[Dubbin1]

All I have in mine is Chaeto and LR and I have tons of "critters" everywhere.

 

[CeeGee]

so I am feeling the "no sand" route as of right now.


Anyone else have any arguments for/against using sand?

 

[Drakeskakes]

From my experience sand is great. mud is better but im doing more research

 

[CeeGee]

what benefits does one get from putting sand in the fuge?

 

[Buster4900]

I had sand in my last fuge and all the junk from the main tank made its way to the fuge and the sand become very dirty.
Now new tank new fuge with no sand. Easy to clean all the junk off the bottom keeping the fuge cleaner.

My vote now sand.

 

[King-Kong]

I had sand in my fuge, then removed it. It was only in there a couple of months, and I pulled out so much crud and gunk. Now my sump is bare bottom, and every few days I siphon out huge amounts of poop and detritus. It's a nice way to do some manual nutrient export while the chaeto above picks up everything else.

 

[CeeGee]

I am going no sand.

Thanks peeps.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Good choice.

I see you are a premium member - search for a thread by me titled "anyone else getting the feeling their fuge is doing more harm than good?". Turned out to not be an anti-fuge thread, just anti-sand-in-a-fuge.

 

[atoa]

I have mud in my current refugium. There's way too much detritus accumulating in there. It's just too hard to maintain it.

I am not going to be using any substrate on my next refugium.

 

[CeeGee]

neither am I