LR & Sand in Refugium?

[gtrider]

Hi fellow Reefers!

I've had an established DT and refugium for ~2yrs. My DT is doing great, however i'm not happy with my refugium. My cheato is dying off and I have lots of other algae growing in there. I have a very large piece of LR and a sand bed in there currently. Is that necessary? I'm considering removing the sand and LR so i have more flow to the cheato to see if that helps. I'm also planning on cleaning it out completely. Any thoughts?

 

[Hemmdog]

I’m not a big fan of sand in fuges. I do like live rock though for additional places for pods to breed as well as more surface area for nitrifying bacteria.