Quote Originally Posted by rocketeer View Post
Wow that's alot of food. You probably hit it right on the head. Most of my sand bed is 3 to 3.5 inches. I was originally shooting for 3.5 minimum but I think some disolved and I lost a bunch during syphoning. I vacuum about the top 3/4 inch weekly and have had some minor success.

So, it sounds like 4 or 5 sq. ft. of DSB is enough for nitrate removal.

my dsb is 14" x 18" X 8"+deep. it has about 40 red and black mangroves in it

I always thought any sand up to about three inches of sand was no mans land. Do you vacuum your 1 inch of sand? If so, how often?

i have always heard between 1" and 3" depending on grain size. if the sand is large size grain like the sand in my display (special reef grade) then 6" or more is needed for a functional dsb. up to 1" is easy to stir/siphon to keep clean. i do not vaccum mine, i just stir up random sections every once in a while. i also have lots of sand dwelling wrasses that keep it somewhat stirred up.

Where do you think all those nutrients go? Growth?

not sure, but my filter feeding corals (sponges, gorgonians, etc) have never looked this good. i do have lots of mangroves and macroalgae in the fuge that really grows pretty fast now.

Jack
side note - the aptasia really seem to like it too good thing i have a copperband that is healthy and taking a liking to them now....