SPS and refugiums

[coralnut99]

My experience has shown in a reef aquarium, always go as big as you can. Adding a refugium will give you more water volume. This will help aid in water stability. Thus help is some fashion the amount of water changes needed. It will help keep all parameters of the water stable. IE temperature, salinity, minerals and trace elements.
It will as previously mentioned allow a place to grow macro algae to help remove nitrates or just to feed to your fish. It will allow a place for copepods or rotifers to grow and breed without being completely consumed by the livestock in your tank. (Thus the hapless few that get caught in the water stream are continuously feeding my tank.)
I would also recommend as large a protein skimmer as you can afford. This will help keep nitrates down,...and you never know when a good deal pops up on a larger tank.

+1 I plan for the absolutley largest fuge I can fit under a DT. Also I partition mine for specifc purposes. Keeping an area to cater to the specific needs of sponges, tunicates, and squirts can do more for the overall stability of a system than most people realize. The tough part is there's no real metrics for this, no calculator, no formula. Just as big as you can get it, and as diverse as you can imagine.

+1 on what fun a fuge can be to watch. Amazing organisms in there for sure.

 

[motortrendz]

I have a fuge..love it.. its about 30% of my total gross water volume. My last tank I used a wet/dry but removed the bioballs,and created a makeshift refugium for macro and critters to flourish bc I didn't have the room for a real refugium..it worked ok but couldn't put skimmer in it. Had to use a hob. Which I wasn't a fan of. But like the other guys said not nessasary but man what a difference it maqkes in the long run for bio filtration and for the growth of ur tank...hope this helps

 

[SevTT]

For a very small amount of space, I think a fuge is one of the best investments that you can make in your sump. Just stick a chunk of LR and a clump of really crawling-with-critters chaeto in there, light it opposite your tank, and bam, you've got nutrient export, stray-food-particle capture, and a steady source of clueless copepods and other little things finding their way through your return pump up into the main tank to feed everything.