DSB noobie mistake

[ratherbediving]

I have a 55 gallon tank and have purchased 80 lbs of sand from the LFS-- 40 lbs of CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand and 40 lbs. CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand. It is in the tank now-- and I realized (too late) that the sand is not the right grain size for a DSB. I was planning on 'burying' the live rock to provide a stable platform, then having a 4" DSB in the areas where there was no rock. I have enough sand for that as well as for my small refugium onceI get 10 lbs of live sand that I am ordering.

I know I should have researched this BEFORE I bought sand from the LFS (but there was so much other stuff going on, didn't think about it then...) but now I am not sure what to do.

Should I just continue with the 4-5" sand bed I have now, and see what happens?

Should I just take some sand out, and go with a shallower sand bed?

OR should I take a bunch of sand out, put in a bunch of oolitic sand in, and go with a 'real' DSB? I have 42 lbs of Figi live rock as well, so adding the sand to the tank might be a pain...

Also, I am hoping I will be okay with the live sand from floridaliverocks.com which I will be ordering; I don't want to have to order a detrivore kit for another $100.... I am also wary of having to do this (buy a detrivore kit) periodically. Should I just forego the DSB?

I am not going to keep SPS, just softies and maybe a few LPS.

Thanks in advance for the help--

--Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Who told you it's not the right grain size?

 

[ratherbediving]

Ron Shimek's article

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

That is also where I read about possibly needing to purchase detrivore kits. At our last meeting at a local reef club I was thinking about joining, I asked about exchanging live sand-- they didn't recommend it because there is a lot of problems with parasites (such as aiptasia anemones, flatworms etc) that could be transferred from tank to tank. That was originally how I was going to get some diverse animals in there after awhile-- exchange with local reefers. If I have to purchase detrivore kits, I think I am going to forego the DSB....

 

[Anonymous]

I now understand...Dr. Ron thinks the sand you got is too big. I don't know enough to argue with Dr. Ron conclusions, but I have a 3+ year old DSB in my tank, and it's mostly Southdown sand (which I believe is bigger grained sand), and I can tell you my DSB is thriving. FWIW.

With regard to exchanging live sand, I guess that risk is always there...but tons of people have been doing this successfully for years. That's the way I did it then, and that's the way I would go now. Again, fwiw.

 

[Blazin__]

i have also done the exchanging live sand with my friends in the area without any problems.. but their are risks...

another thing i have tried is going to the lfs and askin for some of the mud and rubble that is in the bottom of the live rock tanks. got a few diferent benificial hitchikers outa there, some worms, diferent pods, mini stars, mini featherdusters, i even got a cuke out of the last batch

 

[ratherbediving]

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably try just using the sand I have (plus the live sand). The sand is advertized as 1-2mm grains (although some is definitely smaller grain size than that). Hopefully it will be okay; it would be nice if it can help keep nitrates down a bit. It's encouraging that you guys don't think that the detrivore kits are necessary.

Blazin__

Sounds like you have a nice LFS! The live rock I bought from my LFS didn't have much life on it... they really didn't have much in the way of mud or rubble in the bin, and if they did, I don't think it would have much in the way of critters.

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO you're fine to go ahead with your plan, although personally I would go with less than the 4" bed.

If you do some research online, I think you'll find that there are mixed feelings about Dr. Ron's advice, especially among experienced reefers. IME the powdery sand that Shimek recommends is a royal pain as it blows all over the tank if you have a decent amount of circulation (which you should have). IMO it also clumps a lot easier than courser sand in a tank with good Ca / Alk levels.

Personally, if I was going to put sand in another tank I'd use real live sand or the Special Grade size stuff you bought. A mix of the two would be good too. IME, there's no advantage to having a really thick bed of sand (been there). I find shallower beds (say 1" to 2") are easier to keep clean and provide more than enough biological filtration/denitrification (in fact, IME the live rock alone generally provides enough).

JME/JMO

 

[ratherbediving]

Chris-- thanks for the reassurance The sand kinda blows around a bit as it is now, I can't imagine what it would be like with the oolitic sand. As you mention, it'd probably blow around a LOT (even if it was buried by the coarser stuff). As far as the DSB goes... I figure since I will be moving in 2-4 years, and I will want a bigger tank at some point... it would be nice to try the DSB thing now, and go with a shallower bed or a bare bottom tank down the road. Frankly, it is still a bit confusing about how to 'maintain' a DSB. I guess I'll just try it out and see how it goes; as long as I am willing to pull it out it should be okay.

 

[Tackett]

Yup what they said. My sand bed is almost the exact same stuff in my 55 and I don't have a problem. Just make sure you vaccum the crap when you change the water or you will have a nitrate factory on your hands in a few months.