I'm seriously considering converting my 140gal stock trough sump into a frag-trough. Right now I have both my display and my 50gal frag tank running off of this trough which is mostly empty space. At the moment the trough contains some extra liverock, a DSB, a fuge section and a lot of extra water volume. The DSB is an H2S bomb, and the fuge section doesnt seem to be growing macro algae very fast despite detectable levels of phosphate and nitrate... so why am I bothering.
I can plumb the skimmer so that it sits outside of the trough and scrap both the DSB and fuge which would leave me with plenty of space in which I could lay down a 2'x3' sheet of egg crate on a PVC stand. Then I could hang my frag tank MH over the trough, add several Koralias for additional flow and dismantle the 50gal frag tank entirely.
I'd love to hear some ideas and reasons why I should or shouldnt do this. So far these are some of the advantages and disadvantages I've come up with:
Pros
I wouldnt need to clean the 50gal anymore!
Even more room for frags.
Less plumbing and wires.
More floor space without the 50gal.
I'm unemployed and need something to do.
Cons
I'd lose a little bit of system volume.
All frags would have to be viewed top down.
Egg crate is a PITA to keep clean.
No more place to grow macro algae.
Initial expense.
These two pictures show the current setup.
