Do you use a protein skimmer? How deep is your sand bed? Ecosysem claims a protein skimmer is not used and a sand bed over 1" will remove to much nutrients.
My sand bed is 1/2 to 2 inches deep depending where the fish put the sand. My goal is 1-1/12 inches with medium grain sand.
I do have a Deltec MCE 600 skimmer which is an HOB rated for up to 225 gallons. My tank is 120 gallons and my sump/ref. is 24 gallons.
There have been times when I have not had my skimmer running - vacations, medicating the tank - and the sump does collect a pool of scum in the final chamber so is does pull some junk out of the water.
Also, my refug. (the center chamber where the mud is) is pod central! This is good because it feeds the pod population in the main tank. I am also growing macro algaes and anthelia in my miracle mud which pull nitrates out of the water.
The down side is that the return can be very noisy. I added a tube directing the flow down to the bottom instead of letting it splash at the surface which cuts the systems ability to act as a skimmer.
Also, having the deep bed of miracle mud in the sump is easier than in the tank because when you have to change it, you can shut the system down and keep the sediment from getting into the main tank. The mud is fine enough that you can syphon it out with no problem. There are little dividers on the floor of the mud chamber to hold the mud that you don't want to syphon out in place.
If you already have it, I would use it, but I would still get a skimmer
