So on my old setup I went refugium only an ran that way from 07-'12ish. I did just build a new sump that I'll be swapping into this 3 month old rebuild/back in the hobby restart that has filter sock holders.
I feel I have more detritus and stuff blowing around in this tank than the old one. I also like the idea of just blasting the pumps to max and really stirring up a bit of a mess with some low micron felt socks hooked in occasionally. For sure I have way more flow.
I also built this one to have an area for a skimmer but really it'll probably get filled with rubble to keep pod populations up.
I don't see me running them full time because I'm too busy to fuss with them twice a week and always had pretty decent results without them or a skimmer.
I feel I have more detritus and stuff blowing around in this tank than the old one. I also like the idea of just blasting the pumps to max and really stirring up a bit of a mess with some low micron felt socks hooked in occasionally. For sure I have way more flow.
I also built this one to have an area for a skimmer but really it'll probably get filled with rubble to keep pod populations up.
I don't see me running them full time because I'm too busy to fuss with them twice a week and always had pretty decent results without them or a skimmer.