Deep Sand Bed

cpagego · 04/09/2007, 07:39 PM

Many people advocate a DSB for denitrification and neutralization of hydrogen sulfide. Also, this allows you to expand your livestock to include animals that prefer sand. But, what ideas do people have about how to set it up. On another forum we have tossed around the following ideas. I would love to hear other input:

1) Set up a DSB in a remote tank. Keep main tank BB. Advantage: Less build up of "detrius" in your main tank while maintaining the positive benefit of a DSB. Disadvantage: you need lots of costly cirrculation to "ship" detrius out of the main tank and into your protein skimmer and DSB tank plus you don't get to keep certain animals that need DSB.

2) DSB up to 6 inches in your main tank, but with LR elevated on an egg crate scaffold to eliminate hot pockets of hydrogen sulfide between your LR and LS. Mix in lots of brissle worms, nerite snails and other sand sifters and you have a very efficient filtering unit. Disadvantage; lots of sand that clogs filters and drains in your main tank.

These are just a couple of things we have been talking about. I would love to hear your input.

Tanks.

bajabum · 04/09/2007, 08:06 PM

I have been running a 700 gallon system with 5 tanks hooked into it. I have determined that substrate controls each tank, not water in the system. I have DSB and BB (only one) in the system. The BB tank accumulated waste from micro organisims only(amphipods, copepods, shrimp snail, etc). This tank has no fish and has never had food added. Water turn over is about 6x per hour from the system. This tank has developed a massive slime algae and red cyno bloom. All coral frags had to be removed to other tanks in the same system at the onset of the bloom.
All other tanks in the system have some form of sand bed. None of the other tanks show any decline in quality.
The tanks population in micro life is rapidly declining as forms of inedible plant growth out compete there food.
Based on my observations, a BB limits the diversity of life needed to maintain a balanced system capable of absorbing excess nutrients.

jer77 · 04/09/2007, 08:08 PM

Here's a nice link for remote sandbeds.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=595109

drummereef · 04/09/2007, 08:55 PM

I think cward (Chris Ward) TOTM October 2006 has the coolest remote DSB I've seen. Very slick setup. Here's a pic.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500

cpagego · 04/10/2007, 08:27 AM

From what Baja is telling us, it does not seem that remote DSB's really serve your main tank very well. Interested to hear other experiences.

cpagego · 04/10/2007, 01:54 PM

Here is another tread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=896352

04/09/2007, 07:39 PM	#1
cpagego Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tempe, Arizona Posts: 584	Deep Sand Bed Many people advocate a DSB for denitrification and neutralization of hydrogen sulfide. Also, this allows you to expand your livestock to include animals that prefer sand. But, what ideas do people have about how to set it up. On another forum we have tossed around the following ideas. I would love to hear other input: 1) Set up a DSB in a remote tank. Keep main tank BB. Advantage: Less build up of "detrius" in your main tank while maintaining the positive benefit of a DSB. Disadvantage: you need lots of costly cirrculation to "ship" detrius out of the main tank and into your protein skimmer and DSB tank plus you don't get to keep certain animals that need DSB. 2) DSB up to 6 inches in your main tank, but with LR elevated on an egg crate scaffold to eliminate hot pockets of hydrogen sulfide between your LR and LS. Mix in lots of brissle worms, nerite snails and other sand sifters and you have a very efficient filtering unit. Disadvantage; lots of sand that clogs filters and drains in your main tank. These are just a couple of things we have been talking about. I would love to hear your input. Tanks. __________________ "A man with a jug by his sump will one day be blessed with little gobies" Current Tank Info: 240 G Mixed Reef Lee Mar Cube; 80 Gallon Sump/Fuge with RDSB; 2 Tunze 6105 Powerheads controlled with aquacontroller III and Aqua Surf Module also closed loop; Euro- Reef RC 180 Skimmer

04/09/2007, 08:06 PM	#2
bajabum Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rimrock, Az Posts: 911	I have been running a 700 gallon system with 5 tanks hooked into it. I have determined that substrate controls each tank, not water in the system. I have DSB and BB (only one) in the system. The BB tank accumulated waste from micro organisims only(amphipods, copepods, shrimp snail, etc). This tank has no fish and has never had food added. Water turn over is about 6x per hour from the system. This tank has developed a massive slime algae and red cyno bloom. All coral frags had to be removed to other tanks in the same system at the onset of the bloom. All other tanks in the system have some form of sand bed. None of the other tanks show any decline in quality. The tanks population in micro life is rapidly declining as forms of inedible plant growth out compete there food. Based on my observations, a BB limits the diversity of life needed to maintain a balanced system capable of absorbing excess nutrients. __________________ Nothing is rare unless it it dies in 9 out of 10 tanks. Current Tank Info: Many

04/09/2007, 08:08 PM	#3
jer77 Phish Lover Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 2,642	Here's a nice link for remote sandbeds. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=595109 __________________ - Jonny -, 120g 5 Year Old Reef w/ SPS, BTA, Zoos & some Softies. 40g Frag Tank. 40g Sump. Super Reef Octopus XP 3000 External Cone Skimmer. 250W Radiums. TaoTronics LED. PanWorld 200PS w/SQWD

04/09/2007, 08:55 PM	#4
drummereef Team RC Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: STL Posts: 14,754	I think cward (Chris Ward) TOTM October 2006 has the coolest remote DSB I've seen. Very slick setup. Here's a pic. http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500 __________________ -Brett 180g Marineland Starfire In-Wall 278 gallon system

04/10/2007, 08:27 AM	#5
cpagego Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tempe, Arizona Posts: 584	From what Baja is telling us, it does not seem that remote DSB's really serve your main tank very well. Interested to hear other experiences. __________________ "A man with a jug by his sump will one day be blessed with little gobies" Current Tank Info: 240 G Mixed Reef Lee Mar Cube; 80 Gallon Sump/Fuge with RDSB; 2 Tunze 6105 Powerheads controlled with aquacontroller III and Aqua Surf Module also closed loop; Euro- Reef RC 180 Skimmer

04/10/2007, 01:54 PM	#6
cpagego Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tempe, Arizona Posts: 584	Here is another tread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=896352 __________________ "A man with a jug by his sump will one day be blessed with little gobies" Current Tank Info: 240 G Mixed Reef Lee Mar Cube; 80 Gallon Sump/Fuge with RDSB; 2 Tunze 6105 Powerheads controlled with aquacontroller III and Aqua Surf Module also closed loop; Euro- Reef RC 180 Skimmer