Plastic grate?

[brandt]

My 75 gallon tank which I'm going to switch to saltwater had African Cichlids in it. It had recessed (sp) lighting grate at the bottom to distribute the load of all the rocks. My question is should I keep this at the bottom and put my sand over it? Or get rid of it all together. Or raise it off the bottom about an inch, then sand, is this what they mean by plenum. Thanks.

 

[brandt]

I meant plastic grate.

 

[Anonymous]

You're talking about a fluorescent light diffuser, yes? A plenum is a bit more involved than just this grate, in my own opinion you'd be better off (because it's simpler) by just going deep sand bed route. In which case, you do NOT want that grate in there impeding any flow or the movement of creatures that make a DSB what it is.

 

[hdtran]

There's an article somewhere in the archives of 'Advanced Aquarist' that describes plenums very well. Look for the name 'Jaubert' & the place 'Monaco.' If you can possibly stand the web page layout, you can also go to the GARF website (I think www.garf.org?) where they describe how to assemble a plenum, if you want one. You can reuse your plastic light diffuser for that. If you go DSB as suggested by Seamaiden, you can toss your diffuser (actually, don't toss it. Reuse it to make a foundation structure for your LR).

If I remembered the link & knew html, I'd hot-link in my own post