Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

This is a follow up to the statrtng over post. I had asked about not using sand in the aquarium. What do you think about putting the sand in the sump. Will I get the same benefits??? I am put my sump out on the porch and running the water through the wall via pvc pipe. I did this to get it out of site and to keep as much pump noise down as I can plus make it more accessible. My sump is a big plastic tub and a series of plastic buckets containing bio balls, activated carbon, filter media, protien skimmer...etc. Adding sand would be no problem. I have all this consealed in a big wooden box. I think the capacity of this sump is enough for a much larger aquarium but I spent way less money on it than a store bought one.

you could just build a refugium... sand rock ReefPods macro and a good light?

I would maybe remove the tub with the bioballs and maybe the other tubs and just fill the bottom of the large container with 6 inches of sand. Keep the skimmer and add some macro algae and a light. The algae and skimmer might not work to well together but that should clean out your water. I'd probably keep the skimmer in a bucket so it doesn't suck in the macro algae.