Deep sand bed methodology

[jcnkt_ellis]

I'm going down to Port A. in May and bringing with enough equipment to safely keep alive and transport random critters, algea, etc...(all legally collected of course). So, what about collecting a cup of sand or so off Padre Island on the side facing the gulf to increase diversity in a DSB? I'm talking at least as far out as the second sand bar, that's what...at least 200ft from shore +/-. I don't have access to a boat or dive gear so anything furhter out is beyond me.

[Paul28]

not shur i have no rubble this hobbie is try it till it messes up and try new things that work the rubble might work better no clue

[jcnkt_ellis]

so its better to put maybe 2 inches LR rubble below the sand bed, or 5 inches of sand, no rubble?

You need an anerobic zone (low oxygen content) for denitrifying purposes so, imo, 2 inches of LR rubble below the sand bed would destroy that zone. 5 inches of sand, no rubble, imo, would work best. The idea, as I understand it, is to keep from using too fine of a sand, or too deep of a bed, in order to prevent an anoxic zone (no oxygen content) from forming underneath the anerobic zone.

[Paul28]

yeh if your sand is to fine it will harden to a dead zone

[Paul28]

back in the late 90s i had a deep sand bed made of kids play sand omg that was a mistake haha

[Scutterborn]

i could grab some sand from my sump 6 inch bed but i cant go too deep

That's perfect. The fauna I'm searching for lives in the top layer.


-Ben-

[kkiel02]

Sorry just skipped through this so bear with me. I think for nitrate reduction it is much safer to use a turf scrubber. You hear alot of tanks having trouble in the long run with a dsb so I would just use use the scrubber approach. You don't have to worry about a tank crash down the road. All you have to do is scrape away algae every so often.

Of course the reason most dsb crash is because they are normally in the sump which is normally pretty low flow. This allows detritus to get down in the sand. Your dsb should have super high flow so this cannot happen. Ping was the man with these dsb back in the day. Wish he was still here. Hope that helps some.

[Scutterborn]

Kevin, the algae turf scrubber thread is on the list of many I plan to make topics on.


-Ben-

[Paul28]

I was thinking of trying to make 1 there to **** pricey to buy i was thinking a bucket and pvc and a screen of somekind

[Scutterborn]

I'm going down to Port A. in May and bringing with enough equipment to safely keep alive and transport random critters, algea, etc...(all legally collected of course). So, what about collecting a cup of sand or so off Padre Island on the side facing the gulf to increase diversity in a DSB? I'm talking at least as far out as the second sand bar, that's what...at least 200ft from shore +/-. I don't have access to a boat or dive gear so anything furhter out is beyond me.

I would never consider adding any measurable amount of sand that could be collected by those means off of the Texas coast. Out beaches are brown for a reason. The water flows from the Mississippi River through the deltas of Louisiana. All that sediment and waste from this influx spreads along our coastline.


-Ben-