Some questions about sumps/bioballs/refugiums/live rock

[Gluestick]

Anyway, I just wanted your opinion on something. I was told that if you have bio-balls, then you can get away with less live rock, and you can make it look like more by having PVC skeletons holding it. That's why I was thinking bio-balls were the way to go. Everyone I talk to says bio-balls are "outdated junk." Everyone on this site seems like refugiums are the only way to go. I don't know anything about refugiums, and the reason why I like the trickle filter idea is because you can hide everything in it, and have little hanging off the back of the display tank. A member of this forum, PatMayo, has an awesome looking sump without bioballs, and it has all the 'stuff,' skimmers, heaters, etc, inside. This is more what I was looking to do, but, like i said in the beginning, I thought that bio-balls meant you could have less live rock, and LIVE ROCK IS EXPENSIVE! Check out Pat's sump:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=780206
This is similar to what I want. Tell me what you think, please.
We went to a LFS today and were looking at their sumps, and we were going to make our own out of a 20 gal long tank, but when i ask if anyone has directions or has done it they say don't go with a sump go with a refugium, and I don't know anything about them and it seems like a lot of work. Where can I find more info on refugiums? How are they different from sumps?

[Chappy]

Are you going for a fish only with live rock tank (FOWLR)? You can use bioballs, almost everyone has used them before. You will need to skim more or do more water changes as the nitrates go up. The refugium is used to keep macroalgae to help control phospahtes, keep pods, stabilize ph (kind of). Anyway, if you are going to use live rock for your decoration, you will have biological filtration right there. It depends on what you will keep in your tank as to whether or not it is enough biological filtration. Hope this helps a little.

PS I like your occupation. A good assistant is worth his or her weight in high nobel metal. ;)

[Gluestick]

Hey Chappy. It's nice to know that there is actually a dentist out there who appreciates what we do.
I am going for a tank with lots of coral, anemones, shrimps, crabs, tons of inverts! and a few reef-safe fish.

[FDinPA]

You are getting hung up on symantics. Your sump can be your fuge or vice versa. You don't really need either but they help. The first thing that they do is add volume to your system. This is great from a stability perspective. Big volumes of water help make sure that bad things happen slowly. A fuge can be whatever you need it to be. IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE A VEGETATIVE FUGE. Many people do use macro algae fuge's on a 24 hour light cycle or 12 hour reverse cycle of their display to maintain PH but it is not required. Mine is dark tank packed with filter pads which provide a very cozy home for various plankton. It is a very good source of food for my reef.
Contrary to popular belief, bio balls can still have a place based on the system. You will not want a trickle filter for what you are contemplating. They will produce a measurable nitrate level that you do not need. If you were really into tridacnid clams you will find that they are prolific consumers of nitrates. Stocking 5 or 6 in a 50 gallon tank would require a slightly 'unorthodox' way of providing nutrition for them (ie...bio balls in a trickle filter).
You are doing it right though. Read all that you can and make a decision based on what you learn. Treat everything that you hear from a LFS with doubt. IMO They are wrong more than they are right.
Your best bet (ie...one will that will get you started and past the pitfalls that most people experience) is to use a deep sand bed (with or without plenum), a good amount of live rock and a protein skimmer. Get a drilled tank and plumb it to a sump / fuge combination. What you do with the fuge is based on what you want it to do for you tank. Put you heaters, skimmer, etc...in the sump / fuge and out of the display. That combination is a very safe way to get into the hobby.
Again, that is my frame of reference and it is just like any other advice that you will receive. Many people use a DSB in the fuge / sump and not in the display to avoid detrious buildup. Many people use mud fuge's instead of DSB's to achieve denitification (and other goals). Take all of that advice and do what makes the most sense to you.
Don't get hung up on equipment. Do buy high quality heaters (possibly with seperate controllers), pumps and lighting. Just about everything else can be made DIY. Do install drip loops and GFI circuits. Do buy good test kits. Don't believe the hype on the latest high tech gadget because it probably doesn't do what is claimed. Do set up a system that is appropriate for the animals that you wish to keep. If you are looking to stock any type of hard corals or clams you will want to go with metal halides. Always keep in mind that your equipment can and will evolve over time if you wish to keep something new. There is always a market for your used equipment (or for the 2nd tank that you will probably set up!!) Good luck with the hobby!

[Gluestick]

Thank you very much for the reply, FDinPA! That clears up a lot.

[Alaskan Reefer]

A sump is something you will want, regardless of how you use it -- good space to hide heaters, adds more water volume to the system, provides constant water level in the display tank, and allows you to use beefier skimmers than you can hang on the back. A refugium (with macroalgae, preferrably chaetomorpha, which can be part of your sump or hang on the back of the tank) and a the best skimmer you can afford are two cornerstones to good water quality. Use either and preferrably both. A good RO/DI filter is a must as well, you have to put clean water in to expect a clean tank. A fuge without macroalgae is kind of a waste of time -- the copepods that provide natural food grow great and multiply in a macroalgae environment. Plus, the macroalgae is a natural food source as well -- I feed it to my tang and clownfish. Bioballs are generally a bad idea, but can provide a good safety net in a new tank. I have them in mine, but only because I cycled the tank on the fly when I had to move it in short order. With the combination of fuge and workhorse (Euroreef CS-180) skimmer, I have no detectable nitrates so for now the bioballs aren't bothering me any. Eventually, they'll all be gone and the space they occupy in the sump will be filled with more live rock.

Do lots of research on sand bed depths -- basically three choices: deep sand bed (4" or more), shallow sand bed (1.5" or less) or bare bottom. Each has advantages and disadvantages, so you should make sure you get what you want out of the sand. I concur that for a novice deep sand might be the best since it can cover up a lot of mistakes, but eventually it may bite you back hard with algae blooms once you saturate it with nutrients.

You don't have to purchase all live rock, just buy a few pieces of coraline encrusted stuff and buy all base for the rest. In a short time it all becomes live anyway. The coraline algae is pretty, and if you keep the water quality high (along with flow) it will spread rapidly to all other rocks and surfaces -- which is a blessing for beauty and a curse for scraping and calcium/alkalinity supplementation.

Do lots of reading, make good equipment choices the first time, and you'll do well.