Emperor Detritus Trap??

I've read several threads regarding mechanical fitering of reef tanks. I'm in the process of setting up a 20gal. sump/refugium with chaeto, sand and LR. My goal is to reduce my Nitrate levels as much as possible. Right now that's the only thing that's a little out of balance. My 36gal tank has almost 80lbs of TBS LR in it with about a 2-3" argonite bed. I'm going to finish and plumb the system between Xmas and New years. I was thinking of taking out the filter pad from the Emporer and just running it with the baffles, bio wheel and maybe a little AC just to see if the Nitrate levels drop. My thoughts, based on my reading is that my LR and cleaning crew would probably do a better job of processing detritus than having it collect on the filter pad???

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!