Sand Beds, The Definitve Test

[kaptken]

Hey everyone. here are a couple articles i found on an experiment by Bob Toonen to compare the effectiveness of various sand bed structures. Very interesting .

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/6/aafeature

and the follow up test:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/7/aafeature

does that about answer all the questions?

[firecrackerbob]

Interesting quote:
We did not test bare bottom tanks, but the data clearly suggest that the shallower the sediment, the higher the mortality rate, and you can't get much shallower than a bare bottom tank!


I had been planning on going bare in my next tank setups! But I recently had a experience where I suctioned out my sand bed due to the die off of last summer. I beleived the bed was completely saturated in nutrients and was feeding my hair algea and culerpa growth.... within a week or so my corals were beaching out and things were closing up.... I decided to take my old sand, and "wash" it with a series of RODI swirls.. it took a while before the sediment was removed from the washes- it was nasty!, but afterwards, I returned the sand to the front of the display tank... the corals colored back up in about a week!

I am not sure if I would go bare bottom now, but I still think with enough flow, skimming, and a good fuge with a sand bed, your display can be bare.... the key here being to keep as much nurtients as possible out of your display, and to soak it up as much has possible in other areas.... just some thoughts...

BTW... the washes did seem to lower my algea growth for a while, but the war continues....
Eric

[kaptken]

Yes, a die off, like a power outage will suffocate the sand bed and kill most fo the bacteria leaving just waste. this was a pretty good study in the articles. but only testing sand beds, not other forms of filtration with it. but still the results are very useful. all the stuff everone is always asking about pertaining to sand bed types and material. so they went for just the DRAGNET facts.
bare bottom berlin tanks need lots of rock and oversized skimmers. because the rock replaces the sand. that is all.

[firecrackerbob]

Definitely good reads! it got me through the day at work today!
Thanks Ken