Thanks, good to know. Keeping close eye (and nose) on it nowI think the time bomb stuff is over stated. But yeah, if you can isolate when removing anerobic stuff, you should.
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Thanks, good to know. Keeping close eye (and nose) on it nowI think the time bomb stuff is over stated. But yeah, if you can isolate when removing anerobic stuff, you should.
Deep sand beds have use, but there are aspects to consider:
All this is based on using sand with grain size between 2-5mm....
The first 0.5 inches of sand has aerobic autotrophs that convert ammonia to nitrate ultimately.
The next 0.5 inches or so has facultative anaerobic heterotrophs that can reduce some of the nitrate in to gaseous nitrogen. The remaining depth is filled with obligate heterotrophs that reduce nitrate to ammonium, then back to nitrate, back to ammonium and so on. Some of the nitrate can leach back into the water column and this becomes more so if disturbed by sand sift critters. This is why sand sometimes get the term nutrient sink or cat litter box. This process stops at ammonium and gets stuck there because the bottom of the tank doesn't allow any further conversion.
I've been running a DSB, specifically a Jaubert system, forever. My ocellaris clown is 29 years old, so I'll offer that as evidence as to whether it works or not. My nitrates & nitrites are always zero. Phosphates are very low, difficult to measure, as I also run an algae scrubber. I also run a skimmer. And have a refugium. Cyno is the one thing I still struggle with.Are they still practicable? I was thinking about throwing one in my sump.
Do you have a DSB?
Is it worth placing one in the sump?
Right now I just run cheato- thinking of moving that to a reactor.
I've been running a DSB, specifically a Jaubert system, forever. My ocellaris clown is 29 years old, so I'll offer that as evidence as to whether it works or not. My nitrates & nitrites are always zero. Phosphates are very low, difficult to measure, as I also run an algae scrubber. I also run a skimmer. And have a refugium. Cyno is the one thing I still struggle with.
I do vacuum out the top 1 cm or so of sand once or twice a year, and replace it with sand that has been cleaned and dried. The trick is to have more sand than you use in the tank. Same way with rocks. When a rock gets ugly, I remove it, and replace it with one that has been "cleaned." Cleaning means that the rock spends 6 months on the peak of my roof, enjoying the sunshine and rain. Then back into the tank. Let nature do the work for you ... not chemicals.
Ive got one in my sump. Idk how much it does, but it's there and life's goodAre they still practicable? I was thinking about throwing one in my sump.
Do you have a DSB?
Is it worth placing one in the sump?
Right now I just run cheato- thinking of moving that to a reactor.
I recently got a tiger conch for it, he's pretty slow paced though. I've also been looking at brittle/serpent stars. How did you get bristle worms? I've been looking and it feels like they only exist on the internet... No one has them or offers them.My best sand sifters are probably bristle worms. Ive never had luck with critters that I introduced to stir the sand bed.
I've been running a DSB, specifically a Jaubert system, forever. My ocellaris clown is 29 years old, so I'll offer that as evidence as to whether it works or not. My nitrates & nitrites are always zero. Phosphates are very low, difficult to measure, as I also run an algae scrubber. I also run a skimmer. And have a refugium. Cyno is the one thing I still struggle with.
I do vacuum out the top 1 cm or so of sand once or twice a year, and replace it with sand that has been cleaned and dried. The trick is to have more sand than you use in the tank. Same way with rocks. When a rock gets ugly, I remove it, and replace it with one that has been "cleaned." Cleaning means that the rock spends 6 months on the peak of my roof, enjoying the sunshine and rain. Then back into the tank. Let nature do the work for you ... not chemicals.
I saw this once on a random person on youtube. He used one of the three drawer sterilite organizers and modified it, it was pretty cool.Love this idea, what are everyone's thoughts on running a removable section of sump with a DSB essentially a remote DSB? Once it's a cause for concern it can be "Taken offline" and cleaned out without harming the rest of the system. Are they worth running this way?
In ten years of using. DSB I have never experienced a H2S bomb. I think that this is one of the unproven myths of reefkeeping. Until I had to take the tank down I never saw any practical reason for disturbing the deeper layers of the sand bed. When I finally had to dissasemble the tank I was amazed at the amount of life (worms etc) in the deeper layers. There was absolutely nomH2S smell at all.