3 inch sandbed?

[Contender]

How effective would a 3 inch sandbed be in the denitrification process? Would I experience the positive effects of a DSB with 3 inches, or is this cutting it kinda close?

 

[Anonymous]

It is cutting it close, but it's a good start.

 

[danmhippo]

3" is just fine. Just make sure you dont have burrowing animals that will disrupt the sandbed layers.

 

[Will C1]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand. i have noticed my 2" layer of fine sand builds up more bubbles than the 5" of live sand i have in my reef tank. the finer sand will cloud the tank more than the live but over time it will settle down and be better then a live sand bed of that depth.

 

[Contender]

Thank you all for your replies. I am planning on getting rid of the 1/2" layer of sand (if you want to call it that, it seems like equal parts detritus) that came with my tank when I bought it from another reefer. Hopefully getting rid of this filth will help me solve some of the phosphates problems I have been having. However, I don't want to compromise so much of my tank like a 5"+ sandbed would.

As far as swapping out the sand, the plan is to take out all the rocks and fish, removing as much cyano and other algaes in the process, placing them in a 40g rubbermaid, replacing the sand, and then returning it back to the tank. Then, in the following weeks, I will slowly remove the bioballs from my sump.

Any suggestions/advice?

 

[Contender]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand.

Such as Southdown?

 

[Anonymous]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand. i have noticed my 2" layer of fine sand builds up more bubbles than the 5" of live sand i have in my reef tank. the finer sand will cloud the tank more than the live but over time it will settle down and be better then a live sand bed of that depth.

Hey Buddy..........how long ya think it will take to clear.I am not going to do any rinsining and I am no longer in a hurry to do this because the 29 is stable now...weel.I hope so. Everything is back to 0. The Seaclone 150 is kickin butt! My Prizm sucks compared to the Seaclone.

 

[danmhippo]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand.

Such as Southdown?

Yes. The diameter of the sand grain has to be small enough otherwise low oxygen zone may not develop correctly and your sand bed loses the denitrification benefit.

 

[Tinker]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand. i have noticed my 2" layer of fine sand builds up more bubbles than the 5" of live sand i have in my reef tank. the finer sand will cloud the tank more than the live but over time it will settle down and be better then a live sand bed of that depth.

Hey Buddy..........how long ya think it will take to clear.I am not going to do any rinsining and I am no longer in a hurry to do this because the 29 is stable now...weel.I hope so. Everything is back to 0. The Seaclone 150 is kickin butt! My Prizm sucks compared to the Seaclone.

I put a little over 2" of southdown in an 20 long and it took about a week to clear. Serious brown mud puddle looking stuff too. Sticks to everything including rocks, sides of tank and any other surface. I have removed and scrubbed just about everything since then. Skimmer pulls stuff that looks like liquid cement. Not nice. I don't think fish or corals would survive if you're planning on doing it to a live tank. Nice when it settles though!

 

[ThrillYa]

Contender, I found this post helpful in my recent endeavor to replace my CC with sand. http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... dsb+switch

Beerbaron's suggestion of dumping the sand down a 4" pvc pipe to help with the clouding worked pretty well.

Mike

 

[Will C1]

if your going to go that depth i would suggest using the sugar sand or an equally small grained sand. i have noticed my 2" layer of fine sand builds up more bubbles than the 5" of live sand i have in my reef tank. the finer sand will cloud the tank more than the live but over time it will settle down and be better then a live sand bed of that depth.

Hey Buddy..........how long ya think it will take to clear.I am not going to do any rinsining and I am no longer in a hurry to do this because the 29 is stable now...weel.I hope so. Everything is back to 0. The Seaclone 150 is kickin butt! My Prizm sucks compared to the Seaclone.

put the sand in the tank first cover it with some visqueen or saranwrap then gently pour the water in the tank after it is full remove the plastic. this will help in the over all cloudy ness. mine took abot 5 days to clear completly.

 

[Contender]

put the sand in the tank first cover it with some visqueen or saranwrap then gently pour the water in the tank after it is full remove the plastic. this will help in the over all cloudy ness. mine took abot 5 days to clear completly.

This is what I have in mind. Hopefully doing this and putting in the water very slowly will minimize the clearing time.

 

[Will C1]

it will also putting some sort of bioload will help make the fines heavyer and in doing so settle the sand faster, try a few un cooked shrimp or a thin layer of live sand on top of the new sand will also help.