Do anyone of you use a deep sand bed anymore?

[reefslugs]

Does anyone of you use a deep sand bed anymore? I've been this hobby for many years. Back in the day, there used to be a rule of thumb about how mu
ch live rock you need for biological filtration. We also used deep sand beds.

I look at pictures here on RC, of the most beautiful tanks around the world. I see less live rock and very little sand in the bottoms. No one ever says what they have in their sumps. Of these tanks, do you have alot of live rock in your sump? Or do you have a refugium with a four inch sand bed? Or do you just do a ton of water changes all the time?

Here is why I ask. Like I said I've been in this hobby a long time. My last tank was a 110g. Full of sps and beautiful. All of my water chemistry was perfect. Last year I up graded to a 265g. I set it up just like my old 110g. But not using as many pounds of live rock and I still set it up with a four inch sand bed. Sold my ASM g3 skimmer and bought a Deltec AS702. I run a 65g refugium with no sand, but with a couple of pieces of live rock.

My problem is I can't keep sps alive anymore. Checking and testing everything, my only problem I see is nitrates.

[dvanacker]

how high are the nitrates?

[maharsreef]

There are so many schools of thought these days. But I think most people run a clean sump. Its just easier to keep your equipment clean. you could add a refugium with a deep sand bed if you wanted to. The first question I think people would ask is "what is your current water chemistry? I would look closely at buying an accurate tester for phosphates if you are serious about keeping sps. Even though you have been in the hobby for a long time, sometimes we all overlook simple things, that could turn our reefs around.

[therman]

I run a very deep sandbed (10-12") in my 150g sump. Most is silica sand with a few inches of aragonite on top. I had some issues with algae the first year or two it was set up and was seriously considering taking it out, but recently everything seems to have stabilized, algae is almost completely gone, and sps are doing great. I imagine either way works, but I definitely noticed what you did...fewer and fewer people have much sand in their tanks.
Tim

[Saltfun2003]

I run BB in my SPS tank so i can push as much flow as i want but run a but still think there is a huge benefit to running a dsp. I run RDSB in my fuge. Other nice thing about having a RDSB is a few years down the road when you think the sand bed has reached its peak you dont have to tear down your hole DT to replace the bed.

[joshrules123456]

+1 on the bare bottom with a remote dsb in the fuge. A sand bed is natural, and in a small system shouldnt be disturbed, or loaded full of detrius in a display tank. If you have sand in your display, it needs to be regulary vaccumed of poop. If you have a dsb in a 125 gal.+ display, without maintainence it will crash eventually. I run 3" of sand in my fuge and a bare bottomed display, however, I still lightly stirr my sand bed every few months to ensure gas exchange and carefully look for signs of cyano or algea on the surface of the sand bed, if there is any sign of either, I vaccume, and to no supprise, I note detrius flowing down my siphon tube, and after that, the algea and or cyano dissapears in a couple days. I origionaly started with a dsb in my display in a 20 gallon, the volume was too small, had nothing but nitrate problems, and vacuming it defeats the purpous of having a dsb in the first place, then I went to a shallow sand bed and got sick of having to constantly vaccume it, then I tried bare bottom, nitrates went to 2-3 ppm., then I added the fuge with the dsb, and nitrates went to zero. My nitrate stays at zero even if I see cyano or algae on the surface of the sand bed, If I see cyano or algae on the surface, it is an indication of built up detrius in the sand, and my tank will have problems if I dont remove the detrius because of the nitrate and phosphate it will produce if left unattended.

[drawman]

I ran a remote DSB two years ago in my tank. It was great but I didn't have enough flow over it and became somewhat of a nutrient sink so I took it down. I would do it again but at the same time don't find it critical. Personally, I would never run one in my display. FWIW, I will be setting up a 57 gallon this summer and don't plan on having a RDSB.

[wakeboardgeek]

How much flow do you need for a remote DSB?

[cobra2326]

I think one reason you're seeing less and less DSBs is because of the effectiveness of organic carbon dosing at keeping nitrates in check.

[Gary Majchrzak]

BB/SSB DT with RDSB here.

DSB in DT can become a source of problems IME/IMO.

go after PO4, slugs.

[doomicon]

How much flow do you need for a remote DSB?

Enough that detritus doesn't settle.