the way geoff does disscussions is he lets people place their opinions then he explains to them why they are wong. Not in a rude way but a very constructive way that help people understand why the logic isnt there. Geoff is an expert in nutrient control and how systems process phosphates. This is what he will mainly get into. He shows that refugiums cause more issues then they are worth. I decided to test it personally with 2 takes. One I put a fuge on and one i didnt. I did the exact same things with both tanks, same WC schedual, same light schedual. in the one take with the fuge I had mangroves, cheato, live rock, and a deep sand bed. In that take i had a CONSTANT battle with hair algae in the tank and high phosphates. In the take without the fuge I never had any greenhair algae and there was no fuge at all. I grew mangroves in the sump but that was all. I struggled with cyno in both for about a month but never had green hair algae in the take without a fuge. Also my phosphates never went above .05. I had a pair of clowns in both tanks and that was it with dry base rock.
The tank with the fuge did however have lower nitrates at the end of the week when i did my water changes but thats all the fuge provided my nitrates would about <5 and in the other one they were always 5-10.
