What kind of filtration?

I am new(ish) to salt water aquarium keeping. I have had many fresh water aquariums and even a salt water one. I now have a 45g radial front corner aquarium I want to set up as a coral/fish display tank and am looking in to different filtering options. (if this is in the wrong thread I apologize. My questions are.... Refugium vs power filter? Do I need only one or the other? And which would perform best. I can make my own due to the pricing is was quoted is not feasible ($600+).

 

Or..... Would I need both?

 

Your biofiltration will be accomplished by the LR you use in the setup. The general rule of thumb is 1# per gallon, altho I 'scape until I'm happy and stop there. If I feel I'm a bit shy on the amount of LR, I generally toss some into the sump.

You don't NEED a 'fuge, but I DO recommend using a sump-based system, as they're a lot more versatile, and you can hide equipment such as heaters, skimmers, ATO's etc in them, so you DT just has water, rocks, and critters in it.

I generally run my drains into a filter sock to catch any particulates.

So, to answer the question, you only need the LR and the sump for filtration.

 

IMO a refugium is more important then a canister filter. Not only do you get the added filtration from the LR rubble and macro algae kept in them. But you also have a place to grow and keep copepods.
You could do a combination. Sump/fuge
I run a HOB fuge. ( smaller tank ) I keep my heater in there, my ATO hooked up to it ( 3.3gph with airline tubing adds water very slowly ) cheato and LR rubble. Has worked wonderfully for almost 2yrs

 

There are a far far larger number of successful tanks with a sump and no fuge than tanks with fuges and no sump.

 

How did you determine this?

 

I have looked at 1000s of threads and seen 1000s of aquariums. I know how refugiums work and while that are nice to have, they are far from needed. Most are next to useless because of the size in relation to the tank they are attached to. I have never run a fuge, many TOTM have no fuge. They all have sumps.

 

This was a vote here on 3reef.... from this thread (which was the summary of the vote thread) http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/whats-important-successful-tank-108699.html

 

Guess I'm the minority then To the OP, a fuge would be better then any canister filter

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/sump-buy-build-my-diy-sump-140525.html

I have a PS and a huge amount of Chaeto in my sump. Is that a fuge?

I could really help you on doing a DIY sump- for very inexpensive.
Check out my short sump vid please. If you need an awesome, surface skimming overflow- I've got a thread for that too

Oopps, just realized I recently put those short vids in my signature below