"Experimental Comparison of Sandbed & Plenum-Based&

[SaltyJoe]

hi ,,

article:

An Experimental Comparison of Sandbed and Plenum-Based Systems. Part 1: Controlled lab dosing experiments
By Robert Toonen, Ph.D., Christopher Wee

part 1 & 2


i am new to saltwater reef aquariums,,, trying to decide on dsb vs plenium in my display tank ??

after reading above article,,, does not seem like much difference results between the 2 systems...

was that the general conculsion for real world aquarium keeping ??

i am leaning to DSB for my new aquarium if the results are the same ...

i want to keep the easier soft corals for starters...


thanks

 

[fungia]

both dsb and plenum are kind of out of favor, right now bare bottom or starboard is popular. most people use dsb and not many people use plenums anymore. people say plenums are hard to set up right and can crash.

 

[Unarce]

It's been a back and forth trend for years. You will find that many of the advanced/experienced hobbyists keep a sand bed.

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally I have yet to see any significant real world differences whether using a deep sandbed, a shallow sandbed or no sandbed. IME with some good live rock, a sensible setup and decent husbandry all can be perfectly viable options.

Myself, I would choose the configuration based more on what I planned to keep in the tank and what sort of environment I was looking to create (ie. what sort of substrate do your animals need - if any). In any case, I would not bother with a plenum.

Of course that is JMO based on my own experiences...