I just thought I would give some background and feedback on the subject:
By no means am I an expert or a know it all, with that said.
I have had several Plenum systems in the past and I am currently running 2 now.
My current 55 Gallon Soft tank has been up with a Plenum for 6 years.
My Current 65 Gallon Hard tank has been up with a Plenum for 1 1/2 years.
Both systems interestingly enough have tested fairly the same.. I use the same make up water and change water in both systems on the same day or week... 2 twice a month. Usually a 15-20 Gallon water change is done each time.
Readings are as follows:
55 Gal Sal 1.023-1.024 PH 8.2 Temp 77 F ORP 425 Alk 7-8
Am <0.1 Phos <0.02 Nitrite .2 Nitrate .2
65 Gal Sal 1.024-1.025 PH 8.17 Temp 80 F ORP 411 Alk 7-8
Am <0.1 Phos <0.02 Nitrite .2 Nitrate .2
Both my systems do NOT have a refugium and I do NOT use any carbon or UV.... yes I add calcium and reef additives from time to time.
I do use a Phos ban reactor on my Hard tank... because of the heavy feeding.
I do not remove any water from the plenum as suggested by some.
I do not replace sand with clean sand as suggested by some.
My findings are the plenum takes about 6 months to become fully active and after 9 months the tank goes into a metamorphose that everything starts to grow, expand and I have never had ick or fish loss do to any disease. After 6 years the system is maintaining it is environment as it did when it first matured. So DSB or the sandless systems NO WAY !!!
Note: what works for some may not work for everyone.... hope you enjoyed my write up.
*Note: some of my designing the sand bed came from personal conversations with Sam Gamble and Bob Gomez who I talked to both of them for several hours on the phone before Plenums were a semi-common place in the 80's to 90's.
By no means am I an expert or a know it all, with that said.
I have had several Plenum systems in the past and I am currently running 2 now.
My current 55 Gallon Soft tank has been up with a Plenum for 6 years.
My Current 65 Gallon Hard tank has been up with a Plenum for 1 1/2 years.
Both systems interestingly enough have tested fairly the same.. I use the same make up water and change water in both systems on the same day or week... 2 twice a month. Usually a 15-20 Gallon water change is done each time.
Readings are as follows:
55 Gal Sal 1.023-1.024 PH 8.2 Temp 77 F ORP 425 Alk 7-8
Am <0.1 Phos <0.02 Nitrite .2 Nitrate .2
65 Gal Sal 1.024-1.025 PH 8.17 Temp 80 F ORP 411 Alk 7-8
Am <0.1 Phos <0.02 Nitrite .2 Nitrate .2
Both my systems do NOT have a refugium and I do NOT use any carbon or UV.... yes I add calcium and reef additives from time to time.
I do use a Phos ban reactor on my Hard tank... because of the heavy feeding.
I do not remove any water from the plenum as suggested by some.
I do not replace sand with clean sand as suggested by some.
My findings are the plenum takes about 6 months to become fully active and after 9 months the tank goes into a metamorphose that everything starts to grow, expand and I have never had ick or fish loss do to any disease. After 6 years the system is maintaining it is environment as it did when it first matured. So DSB or the sandless systems NO WAY !!!
Note: what works for some may not work for everyone.... hope you enjoyed my write up.
*Note: some of my designing the sand bed came from personal conversations with Sam Gamble and Bob Gomez who I talked to both of them for several hours on the phone before Plenums were a semi-common place in the 80's to 90's.
