What are the benefits of a sump/refugium?

[hexedagain]

I have a sump/refugium sitting in the garage, and have been thinking about hooking it up to one of my tanks.
I was just wondering what the benefits of using this would be?
Also, would I want to just run this, or should I run my wet/dry with it also?
Sorry for the rookie questions.

 

[ben&bobbi]

sump is good to hide equipment, heaters, skimmers, etc. The refugium is a safe places for critters to grow (fish eat these!), better place for algea to grow than in the main display.

with live rock and a sump and refugium, you will be fine.

there. now that i said that, there will be several in here shouting NO WAY! but i have seen way many tanks running main display, sump with refugium.

 

[cowboyswife]

Other than a safe haven for fish, the LR, sand, and algae that grow in there act as a filter. Its better than a wet/dry for a filter and doesnt cause the potential nitrate problems.

 

[InLimbo87]

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html . Go for it, I did. Way more pluses than minuses.

 

[thor32766]

also the fact of adding more water volume to your tank. So for example you have a 90 gallon tank with a 20 gallon ref/sump you have 110 gallons of water volume.