Are Deep Sand Beds really a thing of the past?

[Mellotang]

South down tropical play sand!!

throwing it way back

 

[Mellotang]

Carib sea is good oolite

 

[Mellotang]

I’m sure other oolite good
Just check purity

 

[Nonya]

South down tropical play sand!!

throwing it way back

Southdown? Definitely ancient history.

 

[Mellotang]

Like my techniques

 

[Mellotang]

Southdown was best sand ever

used to buy pallets of it

 

[Nonya]

Unlike halides, a DSB will be a forever solution

Like my techniques.

DSBs will be around forever--unlike halides!

 

[Mellotang]

Lol
Halides n DSB’s forever

 

[Nonya]

Lol
Halides n DSB’s forever

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[ReefGeezer]

I have no rotting organic matter in my tank... you just don't understand the benefits of skimmerless/filterless setup and very fine sand bed..

No water changes, I don't even need to clean glass (maybe once every 3 weeks)! and when I clean glass - it's mostly coraline algae..

Pictures, need pictures. Maybe a build thread.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I can't see how you can use a DSB effectively in a nano tank, or any tank without room for a sump or remote DSB.

The other efficient methods require space, maintenance, and sometimes money for supplies. Two 100% natural and super low maintenance methods are a DSB and growing algae, whether free-floating or with an algae scrubber. Algae has the added benefit of helping to keep phosphates low, since nitrate and phosphate are plant fertilizers. As I said, all a DSB needs is a bit of aragonite sand added on top as the bottom sand is dissolved.

I am growing some chaeto myself but I wonder whether it has much effect because I really think healthy growing corals are the biggest nutrient sink in most tanks. That said, is a DSB more space efficient than pure chaeto? What about other nitrate-reducing chemical methods? Or simply not overfeeding/overstocking the tank. DSB does nothing for phosphate anyways.

 

[GARRIGA]

My approach to a deep sand bed. Four inches of pumice under an ABS plate with a screen opening at one end and a ahOB on the other drawing the water. Constant slow flow should elevate dead spots yet allow nitrification and denitrification to occur.

Layer of coral skeletons above the plate to form the substrate and allow some melting from the acidification from nitrification.

Experimental tank to for an upcoming DT. Filter will be different yet concept remains but coral skeletons moved to first layer of filtration external to tank and substrate to be determined although I like the chunky look of the skeletons plus doubt flow will move them.

 

[Yodeling]

My DSB tanks were always much more stable than my current BB tanks. I think it’s due to the DSB buffering all of the essential elements.

 

[Nonya]

I am growing some chaeto myself but I wonder whether it has much effect because I really think healthy growing corals are the biggest nutrient sink in most tanks. That said, is a DSB more space efficient than pure chaeto? What about other nitrate-reducing chemical methods? Or simply not overfeeding/overstocking the tank. DSB does nothing for phosphate anyways.

Not sure what you mean by corals being nutrient sinks. They produce waste. Chaeto can work, but you need it to grow rapidly or in a large quantity, then remove it from the tank. Whether you reduce feeding and reduce the livestock, you will still accumulate nitrates. You need nutrient export, not reduction. As I said earlier, DSBs are for nitrates.

 

[Nonya]

My approach to a deep sand bed. Four inches of pumice under an ABS plate with a screen opening at one end and a ahOB on the other drawing the water. Constant slow flow should elevate dead spots yet allow nitrification and denitrification to occur.

Layer of coral skeletons above the plate to form the substrate and allow some melting from the acidification from nitrification.

Experimental tank to for an upcoming DT. Filter will be different yet concept remains but coral skeletons moved to first layer of filtration external to tank and substrate to be determined although I like the chunky look of the skeletons plus doubt flow will move them.

Any "melting" of aragonite occurs at the bottom of the DSB in the anoxic zone, where pH is low (think ocean acidification effects on corals). The large grain size is unlikely to create that zone. Large size allows too much flow of water (and oxygen). Sugar sized aragonite works best. Also, "nitrification" is the opposite of what you're thinking. You want denitrification.

 

[GARRIGA]

Any "melting" of aragonite occurs at the bottom of the DSB in the anoxic zone, where pH is low (think ocean acidification effects on corals). The large grain size is unlikely to create that zone. Large size allows too much flow of water (and oxygen). Sugar sized aragonite works best. Also, "nitrification" is the opposite of what you're thinking. You want denitrification.

Nitrification occurs in an oxygenated zone where the coral skeletons are going to be placed and where acidification occurs because of nitrification. Denitrification occurs in the anoxic zone (lacking DO yet having bound oxygen such as nitrates and sulphates) which adds base as I understand it. I’m very sure if this. Been studying it since the 70s. Been implementing it since the 80s. When I stopped doing water changes. Not my first rodeo.

 

[Nonya]

Nitrification occurs in an oxygenated zone where the coral skeletons are going to be placed and where acidification occurs because of nitrification. Denitrification occurs in the anoxic zone (lacking DO yet having bound oxygen such as nitrates and sulphates) which adds base as I understand it. I’m very sure if this. Been studying it since the 70s. Been implementing it since the 80s. When I stopped doing water changes. Not my first rodeo.

The anoxic zone is the acidic zone. That's where calcium carbonate dissolves. I've never been to a rodeo.

 

[Yodeling]

Any "melting" of aragonite occurs at the bottom of the DSB in the anoxic zone, where pH is low (think ocean acidification effects on corals). The large grain size is unlikely to create that zone. Large size allows too much flow of water (and oxygen). Sugar sized aragonite works best. Also, "nitrification" is the opposite of what you're thinking. You want denitrification.

Agree, my most successful DSB tanks were using very fine sand. I think it was called Southdown play sand. It was very fine (finer than sugar actually). Towards the bottom, you could see gas bubbles forming. Those tanks were very stable. The downside was not being able to use strong flow.

 

[Nonya]

Agree, my most successful DSB tanks were using very fine sand. I think it was called Southdown play sand. It was very fine (finer than sugar actually). Towards the bottom, you could see gas bubbles forming. Those tanks were very stable. The downside was not being able to use strong flow.

I was able to get 300 pounds of Southdown before they stopped mining it in the Caribbean. $6 for 50#. Drove with it from Michigan to Colorado.

 

[GARRIGA]

The anoxic zone is the acidic zone. That's where calcium carbonate dissolves. I've never been to a rodeo.

Then let’s agree to disagree.