Small Sump, what can i do?

I agree with power. Only reason i keep any rock in the sump is to cure for mounting frags

 

gat an up current algae scrubber, ditch the skimmer and raf. With that small sump an algae scrubber will save space, be more efficient, and be cheaper. Added bonus, no more water changes and the space you save you can add an ATO. This will stabilize your system and save time and money. What's not to like?

 

Sorry, I may have missed this, but why not put the skimmer in the same chamber as the return pump and use one area as a designated refugium?

 

Whats not to like? Plummeting Alk and Ca causing your corals to recede and die? Nutrient reduction is not the primary reason for a water change in a proper set up.

 

So, after 36 hrs running my pellets, did not have much of a good result, onset of a bacterial bloom and frothy water surface led to me removing the pellets and reactor, tank has only been running a month, I will re-add it around month 3, in the mean time I may add some cheato to the sump instead, i'm reading up on algae scrubbers I like the idea, phosphates are at 0.1 but I am getting hair algae, even though glass cleaning is not required for every 6 days and then its very fine, surprises me because I have spots of Pink algae on the glass already, still early days I know, im not looking forward to a cyano outbreak either, this is my biggest fear

 

Hair algae really is a much harder thing to remove than cyano...

 

Because even good quality skimmers can release microbubbles, which can be sucked into the return pump, shredded further, and then are pumped into the DT.