DSB "crash"

[beaslbob]

From RC:

Total Destruction from Deep sand bed!!! - Reef Central Online Community

When I first started posting on these forums in 2002 DSB was the fad.

Perhaps things like this are why there is more emphasis now on refugiums/macro algaes.

What you think? :squigglemouth:

 

[slice]

You know what I think, sensei.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

As any filtering device/method for aquarium, proper construction and maintenance are the key.

Maroalgae and refugiums are gaining popularity, but I don't think that it's connected to the DSB falling out of grace. The question about DSB was raised some time ago because of the potential of metal elements accumulating in DSB. Then, a number of people reported the incidents like the one you posted. Both Dr. Ron Shimek and Eric Borneman still maintained that DSB was a good option although they reinterated the importance of the proper construction and maintenance of DSB, but DSB quikcly lost its popularity thereonafter. Many ideas come and go. Some come back strong again, but for how long, I don't know. Algae turf scrubber is a good example of it as you know.

I had a quasi-DSB in my 120 (4 to 6 inches of fine arragonite sand depending on the area) for 4-1/2 years. I maintained the DSB by adding lots of microfauna periodically and keeping fighting conch and a bunch of nassarius and cerith snails. I also had spaghetti worms and hair worms to keep the sand bed active as Dr. Ron Shimek prescribed. The quasi-DSB did fine until I dismantled 120 (after 4-1/2 years).

Its longevity did not surprised me at all, but what surprised me was that the DSB stayed healthy and live for a few weeks after I disturbed the sand bed to move my stuff to my 180.

After I moved all my rocks and livestock to holding containers (stirring up sand plus detritis and moving some semi burried big rocks out of the sand bed) and then into 180, I had sand sitting in 120 for a few weeks with only one inch of water on top (good for gas exchange) without any water movement or aeration. There were two alpheus goby pistol shrimp and a high-fin goby still in the bed along with a few nassarius and collonista snails (I simply could not catch them.) When I finally sold the tank and had to remove the sand to clean out the tank, I found my shrimp, goby, and snails alive and well. No stench of stagnant water or hydrogen sulfide.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I think like many things in this hobby, its a matter of taking the time to truly educate yourself on the subject in question. Many people still run successful DSBs today. Anyone who had truly educated themselves on DSBs would never have buried that 6" piece of LR in the first place, and if it had gotten buried in some manner, they would never have pulled it out. One of the major keys to keeping a true DSB is never disturbing the bottom layers of the sandbed.