Incorporate Canister with Sump?

I have a Marineland C-360 and was thinking about running it in my sump/fuge when I set my tank back up. I know most people will say, "nitrate factory" etc. but I was thinking it might be a good thing to have the inlet tube in my fuge and the outlet tube in my return section. Won't the nitrates/beneficial bacteria colonies in the canister help fuel the fuge? The sump setup I would like to have is in the pic. Rough sketch but it would be as follows:

fuge on left with light above
canister inlet tube in fuge
canister outlet tube in return
skimmer overflowing to return
water flowing into both fuge and skimmer section from DT overflow
ball valve on fuge side to restrict water and force flow to skimmer side also

The main reason I want to run the canister is because I spent about 200 bucks on it and the thought of just letting it sit in a closet isn't very comforting...

I personally think this would work but I know there are a lot of reefers out there that know much more about this than I do so if anyone sees any flaws or concerns please let me know!

 

Your live rock in the display should be more than sufficient to handle all of your biofiltration needs. The canister will be great for chemical filtration.

 

I used to do the same thing but didnt really notice any difference until i just got tired of cleaning the canister

 

One thing I forgot to mention... I was not going to plan on having water overflow from the fuge to the return. So I would have the ball valve set to keep the water flow through the fuge at the same speed that my canister pumps it at. In other words the only way water comes out of the fuge is through the canister.

After mentioning that, are you saying there really isn't any benefit to running the fuge side that way?

 

I run the canister only for carbon or phosphate remover, plus it gives extra flow.

The filter pads and stuff are a pita and ime only start problems

 

yeah that was the other thing i forgot to mention... I don't really want to spend the money on a carbon reactor right now so the canister would provide the carbon. Also the polishing filter helps keep the water from the fuge crystal clear. Thanks for the input! Any other opinions are appreciated!

 

Running the cannister is fine, but the problem I see is that you will never get the ball valve set exactly the same as the cannister flow. Just when you think it's right, it may be off just enough to take a day or two to either drain the fuge or allow it to flood. Your best bet is to set up an overflow from the fuge into the return and have the cannister draw from and return into the skimmer compartment.

 

yup. turning your canister into a giant chemical media reactor would be the best use of it.

 

that being said what do you think would be good media... it has 4 trays. Carbon/ceramic rings/?/? question marks as to what is good instead of bio balls and foam filter...

 

will follow up on this. have a canister sitting around and running carbon sounds good.