Remote very deep Sandbed

[Triggreef]

I'd like to hear anyone's experiences with this, anyone use one? I have my fish filtration in the garage so it would be nothing to set up a remote deep sand bed with like a brute trash can or something. Just pump up to it and let it overflow back in.

 

[brandon429]

im totally for them since they are remote and can be managed if ever needed independent of the main setup. that main display could be kept detail detritus free, and the remote one engineered in such a way as to work much better than in the display imo/ poster Wiz is tasked with moving such a dsb, the fact its not mixed in his dt is mini cycle prevention gold.

 

[Triggreef]

@Wiz tell me about yours and why your removing it?

 

[Wiz]

Yeah, I'm not removing it. We are moving. So ill be breaking down and moving the entire system. :-( I love my dsb fuge. I'm not sure its necessary to go ultra deep. I think six inchs at most. Then wider is better. More area to denitrify and still not to deep for the fauna to allow for gas exchange. The idea is for the worms and bugs etc... to make micro tunnels which will allow for the bad gas thats left after the nitrogen cycle to escape. I did everything according to dr ron shimeks advice. It works great butI'm not sure that oolitic sand was the right choice as most of my fauna seems to live in the top inch of larger grain sand. But either way my reactor has been off the packed system for 8+ months and nitrate and phos are still lil to none. I really think keepi ng it seperable is key. anything else I can give my opinion or experience on, let me know.

 

[Wiz]

My fuge

 

[Triggreef]

My fuge

How do you keep detritus from settling or building up in there?

 

[Wiz]

I try to keep predatory fauna out of there. With exception to Hobbit my eunice. I don't ever disturb the sandbed. And I let the fauna do its job snails worms bugs. If the sand bed is healthy they take care of everything. All I do is scrape the front glass. And prune the plants.

 

[Triggreef]

I try to keep predatory fauna out of there. With exception to Hobbit my eunice. I don't ever disturb the sandbed. And I let the fauna do its job snails worms bugs. If the sand bed is healthy they take care of everything. All I do is scrape the front glass. And prune the plants.

What is your bio load in the tank like? Fish to gallons I mean. I'm at about 35 fish and 300g. Losing energy to keep up with it lately to be honest. Not the hobby in general but the high fish load. I just couldn't decide which to cull I'm attached to them all. But po4 is a losing battle.

 

[Wiz]

40b display to many corals to list. 12 fish.
Pair of mandarin
Pair of watchman
Pair of ocelaris
Bangai cardinal
Flame angel
Yellow tang
Lyrtail anthia
Springeri dottyback
Six line wrasse

Multiple stars, shrimp, and cleaning crew.
The secret is the size of my fuge. 30l loaded with macros. Other than that I run a undersized sca-301 skimmer and a bag of carbon. That's it. Po4 is unmeasurable and nitrate is 5-10

 

[brandon429]

Since that dsb has only the kind of algae you purposefully stock in there and not the takeover kind like would be on a scrubber mat (best out of sight) it's wonderful reef sectioning. Looks like a planted tank

I want to link this thread to our sand rinse thread ironically because this has the balance imo where you'd not want to blast it, harmony is pictured there, no sulfide pockets in cross section or cyano down under that bed...literally there are no undesirables I can see. It's meant to run hands off until forced times like these...a move. If your dsb was mine I'd sieve it before rinse out, and literally bag up and retransport my own GARF old school reefers get the reference. Take no detritus, filter it out, get creative. You can move a huge portion of your worms.

*must have a fast process planned. As soon as detritus zones get hand mixed small losses can occur but if you are getting bugs out creatively somehow then you can save time building your new bed with transfers~

For our rinse thread we aren't dealing with balance and tempered input and true mineralization...so it seems like we are anti dsb


Am anti detritus






We are dealing with twelve or twenty decent fish plus corals plus heavy feeding plus three years of non export in some cases, plus DT algae problems at times- of course it needs blasting we can see symptoms in the pre cross sections. Such an important distinction in sandbed vs sandbed arguments...its case by case eval. Many are sinks, yours is balanced and not overstocked




Points on detritus imo:

Input vs sinking, mineralization and export is why the takeover algae isn't winning in spite of certain detritus input and storage. It's not that your system isn't collecting detritus, it's that it's not fish detritus right over the bed x 20 pellet makers (like a display tank) every waking hour for six years.

The remote aspect allows large detritus work in the main tank and only bug detritus for that deep bed. You do have great fish and you also have a fully accessible DT and good distribution currents obviously, I see no piles of waste jetted in the corners


this appears to be a long life span ecosystem per pic details. your mini cycle risk in this move was only the detritus and the most important part of the tank has none. The unrinsed remote dsb is ideal.

 

[Dom]

What are the benefits of a deep sand bed?

 

[brandon429]

I'd list these for his remote one:

Natural nitrate removal. Like reactors and additives and plants that have to be harvested or recycled, the ideal bed removes dissolved waste gasses and doesn't need much if any actions by us, other than to not overpollute. I'm usually against using the common sandbed setup, but this case has special planning, it takes in low waste and will run a long time without work from the keeper.

His fish waste is handled in such a way as to reduce water changes per measure of bioload

Ant circus effect, tunnelers.

Feed source of pelagic infauna plus continual release of them

Looks and plant diversity support

challenge/hard to keep dusters and filter feeders alive long term without dsb association, look at his dusters nice~

 

[Wiz]

The bacteria that convert nitrate to nitrogen gas live best in anaerobic areas. The packed sand allows for an area underneath to get no circulation and developes into an anerobic area perfect for this process. Maintained properly, the macrofauna tunnels allow the gas to slowly reach the surface of the sand and escape. Completing an efficient waste removal. Its imperative that the bed is maintained properly for success. Risk is moderate to high of bad things happening if not done properly.

 

[Wiz]

Fyi, my packed system and sandbed have not had a single water change in more than a year.

 

[Dom]

Fyi, my packed system and sandbed have not had a single water change in more than a year.

I'd love to see your latest test results.

 

[Wiz]

had a tiny spike because of miscare while I was camping. I posted about ut. But that should be even more of a testament. In the end of may I had my tank sitter drop a 1/4 lb of live blackworms in 3 day old water into my fuge. There is nothing to eat them in there. I came home and tested 3 days later on the 1st.

 

[Triggreef]

What are the benefits of a deep sand bed?

More simply put this is how nature works. It is the missing link in our tanks. It is the reason that in nature there is almost no measurable no3/po4 despite the fish eating much more often than in our tanks.

 

[brandon429]

That and billions gal dilution


Right now we are working on another DSB that is in tank under rocks and needing access, making the whole job a chore

Score another run for remote DSB ers who don't have to part out a tank to clean it

 

[Triggreef]

Ah but no water changes nullifies the dilution factor

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How do you keep detritus from settling or building up in there?

A key to DSB is worms. Once there is an established population the thousand tiny arms eat pretty much anything that hits the bottom.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php