Deep sand bed

[RyanCSGO]

Those of you that have a deep sand bed, do you have sand sifters or anything else or do you find it best to not disturb the DSB? I've heard mixed things from two different LFS

 

[brandon429]

Not possible to get a consistent way imo it always varies, like what brand of salt to use. I'm a harsh, harsh rip cleaner for my old dsb, it stores no waste. Others have 13 yr dsb's untouched. Mines approaching 11 yrs harsh rinse, so many long and short term options exist.

 

[RyanCSGO]

I kind of figured there would be mixed feelings. My LFS that I go to regularly and trust a lot suggested it and said I would be bery happy I did it. The other LFS said I needed to be careful. That poisons would build up and that I will probably have issues later.

 

[brandon429]

Given my high bias for cleaning I must admit that most dsb's not overstocked with fish and heavy input, will run longer before problems than 95% of reef tanks will be setup due to home moving factors alone.

Something usually forces us to move the tank, and at that intercept point we can clean or exchange, run another several years

It's also fair to say all kinds of care gradients exist...aside from pure hands off, many dsb keepers truly just stock the tank with normal levels of bio loading, clean top layers of obvious detritus when needed and enjoy fully long lifespans


I like to pick on cruddy dsb's which may not have been balanced ran, or might have been under an overstocked fish bio loading, but for the most part they are fine. All my picos had dsb.

 

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/my-first-upgrade-72-bowfront.240558/page-6


This is a prime example of balance, the bed is just cleaned top layer regularly, it was started on day one after a massive rinse to prevent silting. Light preventative cleaning has been done, no big time investment.

his sand bed presents not a problem to the tank. Even though it's not eight inches deep the cleaning biology runs the same. There are no diatoms, or cyano, or ugly phases going on here this tank is kept simply clean and balanced. Fish are being quarantined in true patience there, in other tanks awaiting being added above which was amazing timing because the sand bed will be all tame when they are added after QT period


I get to see this tank in person and it's been neat to see how active sand bed working plays out on a large reef compared to just the pico reefs I base my whole perspective on

 

[maroun.c]

I keep mine untouched and it's a partition in the sump so no sand sitters or sand dwelling wrasses there. On my previous tank I had a DSB in the tank, did have a few wrasses but avoided sand sifters. Advantages of a remote DSB is that you can take it off completely or restart it with new sand after few years if you decide to. My tank is heavily stocked but not overstocked looking at the total system volume. Fish are rather well fed 2-4 times a day and I still haven't had issues I could relate to the DSB which I added 2 yrs after the tank was started (5 yrs old tank)

 

[jetmaker]

Mine is untouched and does great

 

[RyanCSGO]

OK, so it basically seems like its a matter of preference. how do you prefer to clean any detritus off the sand? vacuum or just stirr it about?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

OK, so it basically seems like its a matter of preference. how do you prefer to clean any detritus off the sand? vacuum or just stirr it about?

worms. and pods, a few crabs. Before my BIG crash (chiller hose) 10,000 tiny arms reached out and grabbed anything off the sand. Now in My 55g and 30g its only like 98 arms:(
the bed auto cleans.

The key to a DSB is worms and bugs. Thats why sand sifters are usually a non starter. they eat what is making the bed work. It likely vary to the size of the tank, like a small goby wont do much but a star would decimate it.
for a DSB to work you need flow in over and through. the worms and bugs drill through making passages and channels to do that.

The Man
http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Oh FWIW if I had all the money in the world(or my next $2 upgrade) I would keep a shallow sandbed in the DT and a huge DSB in the huge Refugium.
Actually I'd Go Reverse undergravel in the DT:D

 

[RyanCSGO]

Thanks for the info! :)

My LFS has almost bare bottom tanks and his frag tank thats hooked to the same system has a 5-5 1/2 inch dsb
I'm not running a fuge or anything in my sump. literally just a filter sock, skimmer and a bag of carbon. Hence why I went with his recommendation of the DSB in the DT.
His sumps are set up the same way and tanks are incredibly clean with crystal clear water. Crossing my fingers this tank winds up the same way :)

 

[AZDesertRat]

13 years and untouched. Nassarius, cerith, Astra and turbo snails and no burrowing or digging fish or starfish.