Sump question

[Rwc]

I run a 40 gallon breeder that is divided up in three chambers I just cleared it out yesterday of about 50 pounds of Liverock as I was getting detritus buildup bad and raising my phosphates in turn algae. Left chamber is going to remain empty , the center is for my macro,frag rack and harlequin shrimp , and the right houses the return pump ,protein skimmer and starfish for my shrimp. Looking for everyone opinion on if I should keep the center bare bottom or add sand and live rock

 

[Rwc]

Please mind the mess I just temporarily added the uv light to deal with the algae issue ,plus a little limited while in a back brace

 

[TanksNStuff]

Not a fan of the skimmer in the return section, but I like everything else you did.

 

[mnat]

I would not add sand. If you are worried about detritus build up, cleaning sand is a pain. Bare bottom, you just use a shop vac and boom tank is clean in about 5 mins.

 

[Rwc]

Also I had previously kept about 40 pounds of live rock in the sump just to have on hand ,but felt that it was also just trapping detritus. I removed all the rock shop vac the whole sump out " there goes my pods" keeping it bare bottom. But now I'm dealing with this damn brown algae on my sand bed. All my parameters are spot on the only thing that has changed in the tank is the work in the sump and my sleeper goby crapping out on me. So I've got 40 nasarrius snails on order to turn over the sandbed and my wife brought me home a replacement goby that she was misinformed about. Not much of a sand sifter

 

[magic]

By removing the rock from the sump you decreased your bio filter mass which may have lead to the unwanted algae.

Bob

 

[Empire]

can you move the skimmer to the first section?