that tanks looks good--if you are after the variety of stuff you have in there---and that is what this thread is about
perhaps you fuges didn't work out because they were not big enough?
the 30 gal tub was 20 dollars---light, substrate, cheato another-50 dollars.
I am actually thinking about running two refugiums---the way mine is now is that the flow rate is reduced to the point to encourage the grow of inverts and protect them, introducing them to the main tank slowly.
Cheato does such a fine job consuming nitrates and phosphates (if you harvest it ) that I was thinking of turning my sump into another refugium where the increased flow would assist the filtration of my system. this is why I became interested in T-man's system
don't give up---I see this as the future and true filtration way to go.
As for controling the cyano and algae growth run two phosban reactors one with carbon and the other with phosban--they do wonders and a reactor is about 35 dollars.
Here's a pic:
