Sump or sump/ fuge or nothing at all?

[canyon15]

As you can see i am new to the hobby and have been reading a lot of info. I like the idea of a sump to hide the mechanical gear and the fact that it is a big volume of water, place for WC and anything else to be added. Is it a good idea to add a fuge to it as well or making it a wet/dry system with fuge? I would like to have more filtration to help avoid probs when i add live stock. Help please! Setup suggestions? 8O

 

[seaham358]

You can do a sump fuge combo and a fuge is a great addition to any tank. The only issue is how do you plan on getting the water from the tank into the sump? Hang on back overflow or break the tank down and have it drilled?
I would toss the CC while the tank is young and go with a shallow sand bed.

W/D IMO is not the way to go.... But you can convert a w/d into a nice sump if you already have one.

 

[canyon15]

Thanks for the advice. I would use an overflow system to move the water. My next question is -- Why get rid of the CC and go with sand? I am pretty sure that maintenance of CC is a bit more but is that the only reason?

 

[Macrosill]

Sump/Fuge all the way. As far as CC goes all I know is that it needs more maintenance and will not support the little critters that a sandbed will. Aragonite sand is not that expensive. For your tank 20-25 lbs of sand should be good and cost somewhere around 1 dollar /lb. Good luck!

 

[greenmaji]

sump/fuge/skimmer/sandbed/liverock.. thats pretty much the standard.. for the most part..