Sand beds

[Readywriter]

In the past I found that a 4" sandbed with adequate critters would drastically increase the bioload that a tank could sustain with pristine water conditions. My dsb tanks had such abundant fauna that they actually required mandarins to keep the pod population in check. That being said Im considering going a little shallower with the sand for my next tank. My question is: has anyone experimented with keeping different sized layers of sand? Im thinking of stratifying the sandbed with a quarter inch layer of 6mm cc at the bottom, half an inch of 2-4mm and then an inch of oolite and the top layer 1-2mm fiji. For some reason this seems like a good idea but I have nothing to back it up with.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I've always done 2" or less for shallow and 4"-6" or more for DSB. If in the tank and going higher flow, I've found Tropic Eden mesoflake seems to hold up pretty well. Holds way better than the Caribsea I used in the past. If i were going remote DSB I'd use oolitic sand.

 

[jda]

3 inches can do the same thing for denitrification as a deeper one for me - keep no3 just a trace above zero at about .1, or so. In my house, 3 inches ends up as 2 in some places and 4 in others. The microfauna is just as good since the top inch, or so, is the oxic layer and will house all of the same critters.

You likely will need some real live rock to supplement that sand and seed it. You won't get all that you are looking for and thinking of out of a bottle.