[Myanth]

The more I read, the more I get scared of Bio Balls. It's not because anyone says anything especially bad about them, other than nitrate production, just that everyone seems quite against them. Kind of like George Bush and the "evildoers". Lots of fright... no fact. I have them in my sump, about six gallons worth in a 33 gal sump under 90 gal tank. Is nitrate production not good? Or should the nitrogen cycle be broken down in the rest of the system instead. I have 105lb live rock and 110lb live sand. Just got it started and would like to change it now if necessary. I'm moving from a manually skimmed, topped up and cleaned 10 gal nano with about fifteen softies, two clowns, a blenny, 14lb rock, and a herd of hermits and snails w/coralife 96W overhead, penguin 270 hang on, powersweep 20. Should I turn the sump into a refugium instead with the corallife light over top? It grows macros really well. If so.... the questions abound.... substrate? macros? livestock? flow rates?

Or should the refugium be totally separate from the sump... if so... what is the purpose of the sump? Mechanical filtration?

Phew
Thanks.
Mike