That’s just the first hit. Read on and you’ll find many more. Like this one
The “Old Tank” Syndrome
Now that a tank no longer needs to be broken down and tanks are being maintained for long periods of time a newreefs.com
If you read your second source, you’d find absolutely nothing but anecdotal evidence about “bad sand.”
You still haven’t provided scientific literature backing up your assertion that sand “goes bad.”
what you HAVE provided — and what I absolutely agree with — is that a sand bed can become a nutrient source, both from detritus and from binding of organics to the media itself. Which — to be clear — still doesn’t rise to the level of “bad sand,” because detritus can be removed and bound organics unbound. The sand is still perfectly fine once those things happen.
I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. I’ve had deep sand beds, bare bottoms, shallow sand beds — the works. When discussing sand beds, you either run a deep sand bed and never touch the anaerobic parts or you run a shallow sand bed (1” or so max”) and keep it clean. Shallow enough for adequate flow to keep anaerobic pockets at-bay.
To-date, any literature I’ve read concerning “bad sand” has used that term synonymously with “bad sand bed.” Though as I’ve repeatedly said — if you can provide scientific literature that details how rock particles can “go bad,” I’m all ears.
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