New guy with a sump question

[Iron Maiden]

Just joined so I gotta break the ice with a question. First of all I'm not entirely new to the reef hobby. I had a nice 75gal reef about 12 years ago, but had to give it up for stupid reasons. Anyway, now is the time for me (and the wife) to dive back into this. Some things have changed since my last tank. I was wondering about the liverock and macroalgae placed in the sump. Does this really help that much with filtration? or is there another idea to this that I'm missing? Thanks.

[charlie]

First off:


Putting rock in your sump can be a detritus trap for sure. On the other hand, I know of a bunch of folks that have macroalgae in their sumps because they don't have room for an external refugium. Do a little bit of searching around on here for refugiums, and you should be able to get alot of useful info!! HTH

[Reefland]

I don't see the added benefit of rock in the sump, but if you can incorporate a refugium into the system some macroalgae can be beneficial for sure; although it too is not needed. We run a 75 with nothing but rock in the tank and a protein skimmer.