Sand in sump/refugium

[trix25]

setting up my 1st saltwater tank and i was wondering if i should put any sand in the refugium part of my sump. i was thinking of stocking the refugium with live rocks, macro algae and sand...but then had doubts...so should i or should i not? any pros/cons of putting/not putting sand in the refugium?

thanks

pAt

[RCFA]

hey pat, not an expert at all, but from my experience a sand bed in a refuge has been great to promote micro fauna diversity. Other than that there are so many opinions out there as to the benefits of denitrification etc, but from my perspective, any 'refuge' you can provide for micro inverts is a benefit and has worked well for me. I guess it will all depend on what you are trying to keep and what kind of environment you are trying to provide. I personally like my DSB refugium with mangrove and macro, but there are lots of other opinions out there! Hope you get lots more opinions!

[reefy]

Originally Posted by trix25

setting up my 1st saltwater tank and i was wondering if i should put any sand in the refugium part of my sump. i was thinking of stocking the refugium with live rocks, macro algae and sand...but then had doubts...so should i or should i not? any pros/cons of putting/not putting sand in the refugium?

thanks

pAt

hi and welcome to the forum, IMO for sand in the sump is not a bad idea but it depends of you partition of your sump.
pros: sand will decrease nitrate of your tank 5 inches and above
cons: sand might ruin your return pump(propeller) if you get sand to your pump partition. if you stir(after a while) the sand you might screw up your whole tank.
anyways I do have a fuge with 5 inches of sand with rock/macro/mangrove. you can check it out when you come over to get the macro....good luck dude.

[Myka]

IME, sand will increase the pod population in the fuge, but they may or may not survive the trip back to your tank depending on the pump you use. I would NOT suggest you use very much sand though as DSBs cause more trouble than they're worth imo. If you have a satisfactory amount of high quality live rock in the tank (and sump if you want), then you should not have troubles with denitrification provided you aren't overloading your tank with livestock and/or nutrients.

[findingnemo1]

I use a 5 inch dsb in my sump, it has been running for 3 years with no problems. It helps with my nutrients so much. I just have snails turning it over.