There are anecdotal stories of complete tank meltdowns from disturbed sandbeds. The sad part is that many of these tanks had been established for many years, that’s why the DSB became so potent.
The sand bed I pulled last year from a 20 year old FOWLR tank smelled fresh as well, no nasty pockets. I was amazed at how clean it was. Granted the detritus buildup was great on some areas near the surface and the nitrates and phosphates were high.
I posit that the meltdown came from aerobic actions not anaerobic actions. It is a small point but an important one. I have run a full on anaerobic digestor on my tank. Fish were fine. It makes me question the orthodoxy of why these beds destroyed (or where alleged to have) tanks.
Fluidized sand beds were a thing too. This looks similar to that concept.I have a vague memory of a guy who used a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand and he put it online with his filtration system and he claimed that he had significantly lower nitrates in his FOWLR tank with it. Since saltwater fish tank started the pursuit of nitrate reduction has come in many forms. Here’s a diagram of a coil denitrator using regular quarter inch airline. See if you can figure it out.
I have a vague memory of a guy who used a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand and he put it online with his filtration system and he claimed that he had significantly lower nitrates in his FOWLR tank with it. Since saltwater fish tank started the pursuit of nitrate reduction has come in many forms. Here’s a diagram of a coil denitrator using regular quarter inch airline. See if you can figure it out.
Here’s a first-hand account of a DSB tank crash
Did it take you a long time to tune it up? I looked into this once and found out it was very “hands-on”. Required much fine-tuning to avoid buildup of nitrites. Have you experienced anything like thatI personally use a Sulfur denitrator. But I think that a DSB is more natural approach.
Super simple once I started using a parastaltic pump to control the flow. Started with a gravity feed then I used a kamoer fx-stp, now using the versa. Fx-stp was by far the best pump but I didn't have the wifi one.
The ammonia was tested the next day.
This is a different plenum and this is much older but it can be seen a lot better what is happening. Please note it took some time to impress upon my wife that she shouldn't put things on top of it.
Interesting. Have you tested for sulfates in the tank? I would attribute the H2S to low flow. My rule is if I can smell it, I need to increase the flow.The ammonia was tested the next day.
Clownfish are notorious for being able to deal with cycles better than others.
No indication of what tests were used for the ammonia and nitrate.
I have seen this scenario described countless times, and right on que the next post lays the blame on H2S ... as it always is.
Once again. I have run a full on anaerobic digester on my aquarium with no effect. The whole house smelled of H2S.
I certainly don’t doubt you, but if it’s one thing I learned in this hobby it’s never to doubt another person’s claimed lived experience.The ammonia was tested the next day.
Clownfish are notorious for being able to deal with cycles better than others.
No indication of what tests were used for the ammonia and nitrate.
I have seen this scenario described countless times, and right on que the next post lays the blame on H2S ... as it always is.
Once again. I have run a full on anaerobic digester on my aquarium with no effect. The whole house smelled of H2S.
That was the other side of my “hands-on“ conclusion. If the flow was too fast you got nitrites, if the flow was too slow you got hydrogen sulfide. Seemed like a lot of work at the time. Glad to hear that you straightened it all out and it’s working well for you.
The green PVC pipe was full of aragonite gravel. The water flowed from one side to the other. I forget how much I was moving. It wasn't much. I would put chunks of beef and chicken in the front side. It was producing a lot of H2S, you couldn't miss the smell.
