dsb questions

[sweetriden76]

ok, so everyone seems to very on this one and before my tank is fully up and running I need to know if I should remove some sand, its a 12 gallon nano-cube, its gonna be a reef tank, mostly soft corals, inverts, couple fish, right now I have 20 lbs. in there and its a solid 2 inches level across the tank, should I remove some or leave it...

[mandarin11]

It depends on if you want some substrate to look nice or a DSB. Personally I'd leave it as is, but some people will have different opinions.

[lunatik_69]

I personaly like 1"-2" sb. If i where you, I would just leave it.

[sweetriden76]

I figured the DSB would provide more natural filtration, plus I figured thats more realistic to have deeper sand but I read that 1-2 inches would be good so thats what I put in, hopefully more ppl will chime in, I also read it can be a bit of a ticking time bomb...so i dunno?

[mandarin11]

Yeah, I've gotten mixed reviews on DSB's. They're good for the tank no doubt, but I've heard nasty stuff about problems occurring when its stirred up to much, something about anaerobic stuff in the bottom of it. I don't remember the details. Although this is just hearsay so if someone chimes in with experience with a DSB listen to them because they actually have one.

Although if its a biocube do you really want to take up a lot of room with 4+ inches of sand? You don't have a lot of height to deal with anyways do you? DSB are probably better suited to non-nano tanks so once again just my .02 leave it as is.

[sweetriden76]

well its only 2 inches deep so its not taking up a huge lot of room, I like the looks, so we'll see what others say and then make a choice, looking like its gonna be left alone

[bmshehan]

i've always heard under 2 1/2 your fine. mine is pushing it so the main thing i've heard is to make sure it is stirred up. will be putting in some nassarius snails before long, that should do the trick. so what i've heard you should be fine but i agree lets let some others chime in

[geekdafied]

You're good on sand, I always use 1-2"s...

Deep sandbeds have a reverse effect over time and will become a solid. Ive seen it first hand. We broke down 2 tanks that were both DSB's and we pulled out huge chunks of black rock like crap that use to be sand. They had only been set up 3.5-4yrs. 125g and a 120g with tunze's and seio's for flow, both were RR. Had sand sifting stars and snails, various sand sifting gobies and it still fouled up.

Lets just say he doesnt use DSB's anymore.

[sweetriden76]

alright, in that case its staying that way, I see how that could cause a mess in a larger tank though, I make sure there is something in there to stir the sand up when I start adding things, or I'll do it by hand every month or so...

[reeferjo]

Just throwing in my 2c's in here. Sry Its a little off topic.
I will start by saying that I have'nt set up my reef tank as of yet, but have been doing heavy research for some time in preperation for my plunge into salt water, so all my knowledge is academic. I want to share some of the info i have found re dsb.

Sry geekdafied not truing to argue with you, more in the nature a friendly dispute...

I might suggest that perhaps the bed was incorrectly setup.

Deep sandbeds have a reverse effect over time and will become a solid

we pulled out huge chunks of black rock like crap that use to be sand

Yes clumps are bad, but they only clump if set up incorrectly. Particle size seems to be a importiant factor for a sucessful dsp (0.05mm to 0.2mm ). To large grain size is belived to be the cause of the clumping. I also remember reading somewhere that gobies can be bad for dsp to much disruption of the layers or some such thing.

Lets just say he doesnt use DSB's anymore

Sry to hear that, Allthough they are not truely needed they are very beneficial.

More on topic. 2 inches isnt generally thought of as a dsb, so shouldent cause any problems associated with dsb's only problem i can forsee it if is large enough size to trap waste (a problem i have in one of my cichlid tanks).

Any how here are some good articles that have won me over to the dsb way of thinking.

The first is by Ph. D. Ron Shimek

With some 35 years of experience as a marine ecologist behind me, I can say that THE most important component of a coral reef aquarium is a deep sand bed

Deep Sand Beds

the second is by Peter Cunningham

The Deep Sand Bed - One Of The Most Effective Filtration Methods. | Aquarists Online | Saltwater Aquarium Resources And Information