rdsb v. fuge--questions

[stevedola]

Question on DSB V. Fuge

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I had a fuge set up prior to redoing my sump 6 mths ago. WHen reseting up my fuge/sump combo I only put back a cheatomorpha grow out tank with a few pieces of live rock on a reverse lit light cycle. My problem is now that Im getting diatoms (that rusty brown crap) on my sand bed. In my 75g I only have a ssb of 2-2.5" so I think that its the lack of sand being able to process my bioload.

To fix the problem its actually not hard because of the way I have my filtration set up however I have to decide whether its better to use my 20g fuge tank as a sorta remote DSB and fill it with 12" of sand and not light it like you would a 5g bucket RDSB or to put 4-6" DSB in the 20g with some cheato and run it on a reverse lighting schedule. The flow isnt a problem because it can be adjusted to increase or decrease with a ball valve.

SO what do you all think? run the 20 like a large sandbed like calfo does with his 5g bcuket idea or run the tank like a standard fuge?

[stevedola]

anyone have an opinion on fuges verses RDSB? expirences?

[mille239]

Why not the best of both worlds? I have my 29 gallon converted to half DSB and half fuge. It is only recently set up this way so I don't have any hard fast data as to whether the DSB has kicked in yet, but here is what mine is set up like:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d166/mille239/DSB.jpg

[stevedola]

not a bad idea but not sure if Id be able to black out the DSB area effectively.

[spamreefnew]

all i know is when i ran a shallow sand bed in the main tank that i had trouble all the time, went with 6" or more ,and now the sand and params are much better hope it helps

[a1amap]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11279453#post11279453 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stevedola
not a bad idea but not sure if Id be able to black out the DSB area effectively.

Although that would be ideal you don't need too. After about 1" or less, no light will penetrate. If you can filter the water with floss or something, there wont be large organics to settle there.

Also how about a bucket? http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109