DSB

[StephenA]

I get to have a do over on my tank. So; what type and depth of DSB should I use? All comments welcome! What really works?

[dan]

i'm a little slow so whats DSB? done something bad? hehe or maybe deep sand bed? :shock:

[StephenA]

Deep Sand Bed

Sorry :D

[dan]

i guess i'm not that slow after all. now i can go through the day feeling good about myself. as far as deep sand beds go everyone is differt. some prefer 2 to 3 inches for good balance for ph and animals to crawl through and some prefer 1/4'' to nothing that way no waste can collect in the bed. as long as you have a good filter and skimmer you can do either one. me: i like just a little on the bottom to hide the glass.

[Jimnorris]

Here is how I have mine set up. Starting from the very front of the tank I have no more that 1/16 of an inch deep gravel. This goes to about half way across the tank towards the back. Then from there I have just glass.
Works for me :-D
Jim

[matt]

I'm a huge fan of deep sand beds, in that they mimick many of the natural processes in the ocean, provide for a more complete aquarium eco-system, and I like the way they look. You should head over to the Shimek "Ask Dr. Ron" forum on reefcentral, and start by reading some of the articles linked to from that forum. Some are just "stickies"

Then there's a little book, also by Shimek, called "Sand bed secrets" you could check that out; it's cheap and to the point. The reason you should do this research if you're intersted in a deep sand bed is you want to do it correctly; meaning stocking with the right kind of animals, avoiding predators, and maintaining it. Otherwise you just have a big detritus trap. I love the sand bed idea; in fact, I'm so interested in it I'm thinking about taking an on-line course in taxonomy and zoology of the invertibrate animals that populate sand in the ocean near reefs.

Some people complain that DSB aquariums can build up a store of toxic materials in the sand over years; primarily due to decaying waste. I'm fairly convinced that the reason this happens to some people is that they do not maintain sufficient population density and diversity in their sand to efficiently process all the waste products from the tank.

[StephenA]

matt, I ordered the "Sand bed Secrets" last night. I'll most likly go with 3-4" 85% sugar sand and 15% argonite (1-2mm)

[matt]

Cool, let me know how things progress. You can get some terrific seed live sand from Tim Marvin who's right down the road from you.

[MikeDeL]

Yeah that is some good live sand. Hes got lots of critters in it.


Mike