10g nano, how much sand??

[salt4life8]

I currently have a 29 biocube but would like to set up a 10g under it but I have heard many many opinions about the sand depth and don't know which road to take before setting it up. Either a tiny layer of sand or about 3-4 inches of sand. which one would be better for a tank of that size, or more beneficial per say?

[kevantheman35]

basically put as much sand in as you find pleasing unless you plan on having livestock that have different needs

[salt4life8]

wouldn't a semi-deep sand bed slowly over time increase the nitrates? Or does it depend on the type of sand you use.... I have had bad luck with deep (deep meaning 2-3inches) sand beds before and my nitrates where through the roof and I don't overfeed either, but have seen some people with very deep sand beds and they have all these cool organisms growing in it and dont seem to have a problem. what would be the best sand to make a deep sand bed out of?

[megoony99]

It depends are you using the 10 as a sump or just another display tank. If you want it as a sump alot of people recomend a deep sand bed. With a deep sand bed you dont want to disturb it cause it does hold nitrates. Now if the 10 is another display tank it come down to what you are going to put in it and personal prefrence. I personally like bare bottom.

[salt4life8]

Originally Posted by megoony99

It depends are you using the 10 as a sump or just another display tank. If you want it as a sump alot of people recomend a deep sand bed. With a deep sand bed you dont want to disturb it cause it does hold nitrates. Now if the 10 is another display tank it come down to what you are going to put in it and personal prefrence. I personally like bare bottom.

hmmm that's a good question! I had an idea for a quarantine tank for new fish/inverts but I also like the sump idea as well because it would enhance my water quality when I did water changes and that sort of thing, It's placed on it's side due to the shelving so I wouldn't get the full effect of a display tank. If I was going to keep some things in there I was thinking of some shrimp and gobies and that's it

[tvanwinklehome]

Originally Posted by megoony99

It depends are you using the 10 as a sump or just another display tank. If you want it as a sump alot of people recomend a deep sand bed. With a deep sand bed you dont want to disturb it cause it does hold nitrates. Now if the 10 is another display tank it come down to what you are going to put in it and personal prefrence. I personally like bare bottom.

This is an interesting topic for me, back in or around the late 80's/early 90's I got wrapped up in the Jaubert NNR concept which is close to the DSB method used today. In addition to deep sand you created a plenum space under the sandbed generally made from light diffuser (eggcrate) and fine mesh to keep the sand out of the plenum. The thought was that the anaerobic bacteria would feed on nitrates. This worked great for 12-24 months or so until nitrates levels started to raise and became uncontrollable. After a few failures I (along with local reefers at the time) found that the plenum required turn over and added a siphon line to the plenum area to pull out bi products that interfered with the nitrate reduction process. I am not sure if this has been visited today with an unstable DSB environment and wonder if bleeding off water from the bottom would help.

[megoony99]

Well For my 75 gallon i have a 55 gallon sump. In the sump I have live rock, 4 mangrove plants and chaeto. I have my naughty hermit crabs down there too. I could put some fish and inverts in there but I chose not to. Having the sump cleared out my display talnk, so all i have in there is the power heads. I personally think you should make the 10 gallon into a sump. More water volume is always better but it is altimatly up to you.

[salt4life8]

After thinking about it for a few, I agree, a sump would be a much better idea, I like the aquatic plants a lot so it will give me a new thing to work on