deep sand beds help

[ryan_lalande]

i am in a little arguement...while i like dsb's i was told and think that if they are not setup right or not maintained then they will do more harm then good. i tottally beileive this as it seems that that works for anyhting were if it isnt done right its wont work or wont be effective.

is that not true...the problem is i was told that all you need to do is plop sand in your tank and add sum lr and thats all you ever will ahve to do. there must be a proper way to do it and i cant see that it?
i would imagine there are numerous problem with toxins, detrius and other such things that would arise in an inproperly set up sand bed. i can see not have any critter like worms and pods to move the sand around cause problems not to mention the other factores of a sand bed.

what do you think

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm. I have deep sand beds, and didn't do anthing special other than dump it in. You do need to make sure it is the appropriate size grain. I don't do anything to maintain it.

I did make sure it was populated with critters though, I guess that counts as maintenance. You can do this several ways:

1. Just add live rock. Many critters from there will spread into the sand. This way may not create the greatest diversity, however.

2. Get detritivore kits. Expensive option, but plenty of places carry this.

3. Get live sand. I have never seen sand that looked to lively to me, but I suppose it's possible.

4. Some places carry sludge from the bottom of their live rock curing tanks. I have some of this from Premium aquatics, they call it crude. Very cheap, full of critters.