Have to compare extra electric with cost of pellets as well.

And with a refugium, you need lots of lights and maybe some flow, if you're doing chaeto.
I have BP and live rock rubble in the sump. I have tons of mysis, and pods living there, too.:biggrin:

Mysis? Live?

Not for everybody. IMO they are not what there cracked out to be.

Why have the hassles that can come with pellets, you may get lucky you may not. A good fuge works the best.
Husbandry, that's what it is all about, you control your tank not the other way around.

Not true, CF's are very effectient at growing Cheato. True on the flow, and the more it tumbles the beter.

If you going to do biopellets i would really look at the new reef dynamics biopellet reactor. big step above the others

I have 2 24watt t5ho bulbs on my fuge with painfully slow flow. Probably less than 100gph and my cheato grows like crazyyyyy. Literally

I run vertex pellets , GFO, and a fuge. So I say both. A 23 watt 6500K home depot CF bulb grows cheato great.

I'd really love to do refuge but if it needs to be sized to a third of your overall aquarium size that would be a 60 gallon one for me. I'm not sure I could find the room. I was originally thinking 10-15 but would that just be a wasted effort?

I use a 30 gallon tall tank for a 180 gallon display. It works perfectly