Sand Bed / DSB Maintenance

[Bladez]

I am trying to decide if I should add a sand bed to my tank but I cannot make up my mind based on the current pro/con threads i.e. I cannot see the forest through the trees. So, maybe I can decide based on the amount of involvement that is being employed to keep these systems going.

For those of you that are operating successfully with a sand bed/DSB what are your maintenance techniques i.e. how often do you do water changes, what are your feeding schedules, what other filtration methods are you employing etc….

Suggested answer format:

Tank size
Bio load (light, medium, or heavy)
Grain size
Depth of sand
Plenum
Water change frequency/how much
Feeding schedule/what type
Other filtration methods

Please, no sand bed bashing. There is too much of that going on in those "other" threads.

Any links to maintenance threads would be great.

[Anemonebuff]

125 gallon AGA reef ready

Medium bioload

Sugar grain

No plenum

18 gallons every 3-4 months

Fed mysis or brine shrimp or cyclopese or Fromula one every other day. A small strip of seaweed every day or two.

ASM G3 Skimmer

[saladbar]

Hey Bladez.
I am all for sand bed. Now keep in mind that I only can bouch for Aragonite based sand beds.

Tank size: 37g tall with 15G Sump/Refugium with Chaeto. 70LB of Florida live rock.
Bio load: medium
Grain size. 1.0-2.0mm
Plenum: No, Just 2 inch sand bed
Water change frequency/how much: Once a month. 30%
Feeding schedule/what type: every other day a mix of frozen formula one and flakes.
Other filtration methods: Aqua C remora Skimmer

I have had great success with my tank I will submit some picture as soon as possible.

[bhdmc]

125 AGA RR tank
Medium bio load
ESV sand 6"(do not know the grain size); no plenum
Water change once a month-10%
Feed every other day-dry & frozen foods
ETS skimmer, LR, DSB and growing marco algae in sump.

[bhdmc]

Sorry, that is macro algae, not my friend Marco.

[Airman]

Blade,

Here a link I read when I decided to go DSB. I love the natural look of the sand and my fish love it also.

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog...ek_090698.html

[Bladez]

Feeding?
So you all are feeding every other day.... Your fish are ok with this?

Water changes?
When you do your water changes are you using a vacuum system to suck muck out of the gravel or are you just simply exchanging old for new?

Live rock placement?
Do you have your rock work setting directly on the gravel bed or do you have your rock elevated to get access to the detritus that accumulates under the rock?

[Bladez]

Wow; only 3 people with a sand bed in their tank....

[Sullyman]

125
Medium/heavy
Southdown
6"
no plenum
20 gallons a month
nori or romaine daily
5 cubes brine or 2 tp 3 cubes home made food daily
deltec skimmer hob
fuge
micron bag
filter media from roll

[CaveManNOhio]

125 AGA RR
50/50 mix Sand and Coral=4" deep all Live
HEAVY Load
No Plenum
50 gal every other week
30 Gal refugium w/ 25 pounds sand /Crushed Coral
25lbs LR
Cheato & Caulerpa
Berlin Skimmer

Feeding every other day all frozen and liquid stuff
When I do water changes I do use a vac and stir around in the sand bed a little, not a lot though. Most of my water is sucked out of the refugium.

[Bladez]

Thanks everyone for your input so far. I would still like to here from some more reefers with sand beds; I know your out there-speak up!



Sullyman - I like your clams; are they Gigas?

[Electrobes]

Tank size: 40g Breeder with 20g Sump
Bio load (light, medium, or heavy): Heavy
Grain size: Caribsea Seafloor Grade (Bigger than fine)
Depth of sand: average of about 2 inches
Plenum: No
Water change frequency/how much: 10% (5g) weekly
Feeding schedule/what type: About Once a day (Form One only)
Other filtration methods: CSS 65 Skimmer, 1/3 cup Carbon on power filter changed once a week.

[Sindjin]

Read up on Rock Cooking. IMO, everyone should cook their rocks before adding them to the main display. Especially if you are setting up a new DSB. ROck cooking basically allows your rocks to fully cycle in darkness, killing algaes AND allowing the rocks to completely shed all the detritus with in them. That way you dont have new rock on a new sandbed dumping tons of dirt/debris into the sandbed for the first 3 or 4 months of your tanks life.

Here's SeanT's method:

Originally posted by SeanT
The purpose of "cooking" your rocks is to have the bacteria consume all (or as much) organic material and PO4 stored on, and in, the rock as possible.

The first step to this is commitment.
You have to be willing to remove your rock from the tank.
It doesn't have to be all at once, but I feel if you are going to do this do it all. In stages if that is easier but make sure that all of it gets done.

The new environment you are creating for your rock is to take it from an algal driven to a bacterial driven system.
In order to do this, the rock needs to be in total darkness to retard and eventually kill the algae's on the rock and to give the bacteria time to do the job.

So basically you need tubs to hold the rock.

Equipment needed.
1. Dedication.
2. Tubs to cook rock in. And an equal amount of tubs to hold the rock during waterchanges.
3. A few powerheads.
4. Plenty of buckets.
5. A smug feeling of superiority that you are taking it to "the next level."
6. Saltwater, enough made up to follow the instructions below and to replenish your tank after removing rocks.
Here are the steps:

1. Get into your head and accept the fact you will be making lots of salt water if you aren't lucky enough to have access to filtered NSW.
2. Explain to significant other what is going on so they don't flip out. This process can take up to 2 months. Prepare them in advance so he/she can mark it on the calendar and that they won't nag about it until that date arrives.
3. Setup a tub(s) where the rock is to be cooked. Garages are great for this.
4. Make up enough water to fill tub(s) about halfway and around 5-7 buckets about 60% full.
5. Remove all the rock you want to cook at this stage. (The rock can be removed piece by piece until you are done.) I suggest shutting off the circulation beforehand to minimize dust storms.
6. Take the first piece of rock and dunk it, swish it, very, very well in the first bucket. Then do it again in the 2nd bucket, then the third.
7. Place rock in the tub.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 to every piece of rock you want to cook at this time. The reason I suggested 5-7 buckets of water will be evident quickly...as the water quickly turns brown.
9. Place powerhead(s) in the tub and plug in. Position at least one powerhead so that it agitates the surface of the water pretty well. This is to keep the water oxygenated. You can use an air pump for additional oxygenation if you wish. Only one powerhead per tub is needed. Remember the powerheads main responsibility is the oxygenation of the water.
10. Cover the tub. Remember, we want TOTAL darkness.
11. Empty out buckets, restart circulation on main tank.
12. Wait.
13. During the first couple of weeks it is recommended to do a swishing and dunking of the rocks twice a week.
What this entails is to make up enough water to fill up those buckets and the tub the rock is in.
First, lay out your empty tub(s) and fill buckets the same as before.
Then, uncover tub with the rock in it. Take a rock and swish it in the tub it's in to knock any easy to get off junk.
Then, swish it thru the 3 buckets again, and place in the empty tub..
Repeat for all your rocks.
Then empty the tub that all the rocks were cooking in, take it outside and rinse it out with a hose.
Place tub back where it was, fill with new saltwater, add rocks and powerheads, and cover.
Wait again until the next water change.
You will be utterly amazed at how much sand, silt, detritus is at the bottom of the tub and every bucket. It is amazing.
At times the stench was so strong I gagged.

How it works:

Some FAQ's.
When re-introducing the rock to my tank, a month or two from now, should I do that in parts to help minimize any cycling effect(s)...if there are any?
I never have. Really after a very short while, the ammonium cycle has been established. That's not what you're worry about though, it's the stored phosphates and that you have to wait it out.
When they are producing very little detritus - you'll know - then I would use them all at once.

Would running Carbon filtration and/or a PO4 reducing media help/hurry/hinder the process?
I wouldn't fool with it. You don't want the detritus to sit there long enough to rot, release water soluble P again. You want to take it out while it's still locked up in that bacterial detritus.

I would say that 85% of my exposed rock had Bryopsis (hair algae) covering it.
There isn't a single visible strand on any rocks my tank now.
Remember, the key is patience. Let this process run its course.

And a few last minute tidbits I remembered.
Your coralline will die back, recede etc.
My thoughts on this are GREAT!
Now my rock is more porous for additional pods, mysids, worms etc.
Coralline will grow back.
Throughout this process the sponges, and pods on my rock have not died off.
Every time I do a water change they are there and plentiful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So that is “cooking rocks� the reef keeping way.
I personally believe that it is probably the single most important thing you can do to your tank.

[Sindjin]

BTW,

I, personally did not cook my rocks. I wish I did. However I did not educate myself on the subject enough to understand the benefits. Im running a BB, so I was able to siphon out all my detritus the first 3 months. I just set up my tank up in October. NOW I finally have what I would consider a minimum amount of detritus being shed from the rock. I couldn't imagine having all of the 3-months worth of debris sinking into a new sand bed. And NO... this is not intended to begin another BB/DSB debate. Im just passing on good advice for a new setup...regardless of whats on the bottom.

Good Luck!

[romunov]

450L
1 small fish, lots of worms, some snails
~0,2mm and smaller
~10cm
dsb isn't suppose to run a plenum
at least once a month, 50L at a time
3 times a week
350L fuge with chaeto

[Clayman]

100 Gallon
Light load
Sugar fine Argonite
4" of sand
I change 10% a week ( about 10-15 gallons )
I feed every day once a day. I have a bunch of differant things to feed so I mix it up.
I have a large beckett skimmer and a total of 150Lbs of LR.
125Lbs in they display 30 Lbs in the sump. Also growing cheato in the sump aswell.

[Bladez]

Does this look like an appropriate grain size for a DSB? The seller claimed a .5 to 1.5mm grain size.

[gman0526]

If you're interested in Sb discussion and info, this thread is a must read: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=745968

Great discussion on that thread.