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ReefsandGeeks
09/23/2014, 07:29 AM
I have a DSB, varying between 4 and 5 inches for my 40 gallon. I was wondering how long it should take before anerobic bacteria will cononize enough to bring my nitrate down significantly. My tank has been running for about 5 months now, and my nitrates typicaly run around 20-40ppm(API kit is almost indistinguishable in color between those readings).

Is there anything I can do t further speed up the colonizing of these bacteria? vodka dosing? periodicaly add some seachem stability?

by the way, I have about 15 pounds of initialy live rock, 35 pounds of base rock(though it is just starting to get some tiny red coraline spots), and 60 pounds of sand. I have no idea how long it takes for the live rock hichhikers to make the sand suficiantly live.

andrzadr000
09/23/2014, 12:07 PM
Do you have a fuge?

mcgyvr
09/23/2014, 12:32 PM
some tanks run just fine with rock/DSB.. others don't..
Some use "carbon dosing" (vodka/vinegar/sugar/ or biopellets) when all thats natural in the tank doesn't seem sufficient.

ReefsandGeeks
09/23/2014, 12:33 PM
No, I have the 40 gallon display tank and a couple gallon canister filter with a liter of seachem matrix.

ReefsandGeeks
09/23/2014, 12:38 PM
I would like it to be more naturaly balanced, but most of my rock is base rock, and i've heard it can take a long time(a year or so) for the base rock to become realy live. But it doesn't have to be covered with coraline to perform the denitrifying function, i'm guessing. Also, the sand was "live sand" but just the bagged kind, not actual live sand from a tank. I don't know if live sand works as well for nitrate unless it's properly stirred by the little critters in it, or how long it takes them to realy populate the sand.

ReefSentinel
09/23/2014, 01:04 PM
I'm interested in doing a DSB. I've been read researching it and found that newyorksteelo on you tube has some good vids on DSB. Have you heard or watched these?

ReefsandGeeks
09/23/2014, 01:24 PM
I haven't heard about the videos but will look into watching them tonight. I'm at work and youtube is blocked :( reefcentral however is not! I've done alot of reading on DSBs before deciding to try one, but in all of my reading I haven't come across anything that would sugest how long it takes to establish one with enough anerobic bacteria.

Thanks for the info

ReefSentinel
09/23/2014, 01:28 PM
I haven't seen a timeline either. When I set up my next tank I'm going to utilize a DSB as well. Anything that is posted here will help.

ReefsandGeeks
09/23/2014, 01:41 PM
It's also difficult to tell if the DSB is helping with nitrate yet or not. My nitrates do rise slowly, form 20-40ish ppm in about 2 weeks between water changes, but without my 15 pounds of live rock and 60 pounds of sand it might have risen to 80 or 100ppm in that time. I'm just hoping that at some point there will be enough denitrate action between my rock and sand that my nitrates will go down.

Water changes would still be neccessary, but smaller changes and less often would be okay just to keep trace elements in check. I currently have a slow kalk drip to keep calcuim and alkalinity up to try to encorage my coraline to grow. i just noticed yesterday the red is starting to spread after a couple months. I get way too excited to see some little red dots on my base rock haha.

Bryopsis
09/24/2014, 09:59 AM
It'll happen over time, it's always the longest action to see a response from imo...

ReefSentinel
09/24/2014, 11:21 AM
@devastator007

What are you using in your setup?

I've been reading around online.

What type of filtration are you using? Did you use live sand? The best I found IMO is this natures reef bio active love sand and according to the stuff I have read you must either use this in all 4-5inches, or the top 1/3 of the sand bed. You either place it all at once upon initially setting up the aquarium or you add the top 1/3 over a course of a couple weeks.

Like I said, I'm new. The only reason I'm asking all this is because this is part of my setup that I'm using in my next tank which I'm going to start really soon.

ReefsandGeeks
09/25/2014, 11:25 AM
I have a 40gallon tall tank. i have 50 pounds of rock, 15pounds of it is live and i used 60 pounds of "caribsea live sand" which in my tank amounts to 4-5 inches. For filtration I have a canister filter with a liter of seachem matrix, some carbon and purigan, and filter floss. I also have an 800gph ph pointed towards the rock. The cycle went pretty fast, nitrites were down to 0 in about 2 weeks, but I've had nitrates for a while. The problem with the bagged live sand is it only has the bacteria(which is what i want) but not the little critters that live and stir the sand. I don['t know how well a DSB will work without much sifting for nitrates. I have a few hermit crabs, but am hoping that the live rock hitchhikers will populate the sand bed mostly. I have no idea how long that will take, and since i can't see through sand I probably woun't ever know when it is populated.

I do like the look of the DSB, but the sand I got had a mix with alot of small, and some large shells in it, and eventualy the shells seem to work their way to the top layer of the sad. so now it kind of looks like i have sand with a small layer or seashells on top. Just astetics unless you have livestock that need soft sand.