Sand Stirring

This depends on your beliefs as to DSB or No to DSB

HI,
I am very new to saltwater one of the first forums I visited was the DSB about using sand for nitrite control.
The problems with sand is without worms it going to turn to rock due to bacteria growing in the sand. To prevent this you get some of those worms to tunnel in the sand , avoid sand sifting stars they may eat your worms.
I have a 20 gallon DSB with 6-7 in of sand with a gravity feed water in and a simple pump back to the tank it pretty slow.
I have a numerous fire worms and about 50 snails so far its worked , I will not stir this system many people also use algae to help with the conversion it requires a good light source. . If you ask this question each person will have different beliefs and concerns about DSB so you will get conflicting answers .
Doug

here's one Idea on the DSB click below>>>


DeepSandBeds

 

For what it is worth.

I have a shallow sand bed just for looks in my 90 / 300 home system. The DSB is in the sump. The shallow beds get "stirred" all the time. I typically hook a flexible hose up to a return and blast away at the sand and LR pretty much every week. I have not touched the DSB in over a year primarily because a forest of Macro and other critters have taken root in it.

The 210 office without a sump has a DSB. It gets vacuumed with every water change to help prevent buildup of dead spots and remove detritus. Since it's at my office my LFGuy maintains this tank. He uses a very large diameter and tall siphon so it doesn't remove too much sand. With 300 pounds of sand and a couple hundred of LR he can't get to all of it, so the anaerobic bacteria is never in jeopardy especially since a mess will be living in the LR.

Both systems are quite healthy so go figure. Of course, the 300 is much better, but 600 gallons in system with a major sump / refuge will do that. Conceptually I prefer a remote DSB like what I have in the home. That way, if something bad starts to happen, I can strip it out and clean it without hurting the tanks.