Fuge or not?

so I got a new frag tank and setup a sump with LR but not sure if a fuge is needed or not what do you guys do?

 

A well maintained fuge is an asset to any system. It gives you additional water for increased system stability, a place to put problem animals for a time out and a place to help you export nitrate and phosphate.

 

What 2in10 said plus it serves as a breeding ground for little critters that make their way back to the display tank and act as food.

 

Are you going to have fish in your frag tank and/or feed your frags a lot? If not, then a fuge may not provide any benifit and may be counter productive. You need some sort of bioload to sustain any given biomass. The bioload of corals alone, probably wouldn't sustain the biomass of a fuge. Put another way, you need fish poop or at least food to feed the algae and critters of a fuge...

 

I disagree with that. There are many healthy and thriving tanks that do not have fuges. If you don't have proper filtration, overfeed, and don't take care of your tank, a fuge is helpful. Also, if he isn't poluting his water, he doesn't need one. A sump with a small skimmer and LR would suite him better than a fuge.

 

He said it's an asset... not a requirement..

 

I never said it was a requirement either. I feel that is is completely unneeded if you are responsible when it comes to feeding and maintaining your tank. It is only an asset to those who have mandarins and those who over feed the piss out of their tanks.

 

I probably will eventually put maybe a clown pair in the tank but as of now it's only a frag tank w/o livestock

 

Yes to an extent. I've never seen a pod crawl into the mouth of a coral, and that's what it would take for a coral to eat a pod. However I've seen many fish pod hunting around the rockwork.

For mandarins and wrasses a fuge helps lighten the manual feeding load.

 

I am going to agree with this one. It's just a biological technique. It assists in the natural work that skimmers, HOB's UV and all those other great man made devices do. Its just a matter of preference, and there is nothing wrong with doing it either way.