Word of warning on BB systems

[thedude]

All,

When people put starboard under their BB systems, they always say to silicone it to the bottom of the tank. Well foolishly, I thought that the weight of the rock and tiny space between it and the sides of my tank would keep detritus from settling down there. Holy god, was I wrong.

I had an evil dottyback that required me to take all the liverock out to get to him and while I was down there, I pulled up the starboard. On the starboard itself I had 5-6 massive colonies of yellow sponge that pushed the starboard up ever so slightly resulting in a 1/2 inch poop bed. It was disgusting and my corals were not pleased that I stirred it up siphoning it out. Just a word of warning, silicone is REQUIRED for starboard to be effective.

John

[GaryP]

Just out of curiousity, what have your nitrates been running?

[dwdenny]

I am going to put a 1" layer of sand down insted of a true BB. 1" is not much at all but I will be running a DSB in th fuge so that should help. Yeah if you dont silicone the edges then that can happen I read that on RC some time ago. Thanks for the warning and words of wisdom. lol

[thedude]

Suprisingly my nitrates have been running absolute zero according to Salifert along with my inorganic phosphate levels. I was seeing too much algae growth on the glass for a BB system with an oversized skimmer so I started looking for answers. The detritus bed I uncovered was approx 8 months old.

[thedude]

DWdenny,

I'd also like to add that I don't think your 1 inch sandbed is a good idea at all unless you plan to regularly siphon it. You'd be amazed at how much crap our rocks produce.

[gjuarez]

I have to agree with thedude on this one Doug, normally shallow sand beds dont have the benefits of BB or DSB. TOo shallow for anarobic bacteria to grow, and to much to have enough flow to keep detritus suspended. Of course, if there was a DSB you wouldnt have to worry as much as keeping detritus suspended.

[thedude]

Gary, why did you ask about the nitrates? I found it odd as well that a had a zero reading time and time again but I guess weirder things have happened. You have to also remember that I don't really like fish that much so stock very very light (aka one fish) and am running a Euroreef CS 6-2 on a 30 gallon.

[gjuarez]

Detritus in a barebottom tank is no good. That is why I am thinking that Gary asked about nitrates. Without a deep sand bed, there is almost zero denitrifying bacteria to process the nitrates. I am also amazed that there is zero nitrates.

[thedude]

I'd also like to add just as a little teaser that I purchased the System Reefresh from Polyplabs and will be receiving it sometime next week. I'll let you all know the results.

[GaryP]

Yea, I was wondering about whether the detritus was causing higher nitrates. The fact that you are so lightly stocked explains why you nitrateds are so low. The LR is capable of keeping up with denitrification with that level of stocking and feeding.