Sand Bed

[Guest webshout]

Ok, I saw a response in a different post in this forum that advised against stirring the sand bed. Now maybe I should have put this question in that thread, but I didn't want it to get buried or pull away from the other poster.

 

So, do people disturb the sand bed? I've been using a gravel vac for water changes. I've got 3 tanks (75g, 29g, and 10g) all FOWLR. Eventually, I'd like to get corals, but I've been taking it slow (a VERY hard thing to do in this hobby). Bed in 10 g is about 1 1/2" of sand. The 75 and 29 are larger crushed coral at about 2" or so. So, when I do the water change, the bed gets stirred up.

 

I should also say that I've had a couple of cyno outbreaks and that is slowly but surely getting under control.

 

So, should I stop with the gravel vac?

 

Thanks

 

William

[rsarvis]

I'm going to tag along to see what people have to say.

 

I've heard it said that minor amounts of sand-stirring is fine and can be beneficial, but you don't want to do too much, especially in a smaller aquarium, b/c it can degrade the water quality quite a bit and it might release certain bacteria that can eat up a lot of the oxygen in the water. (That's just what I heard; don't shoot the messenger if the message was wrong...)

 

I stir up small areas every now and then, esp up against the front glass, when the sand up against the glass is a little discolored. I used to do some sand vacuuming with water changes, but I stopped, simply because it doubled or tripled the time it took me to do a water change.

 

 

 

Ok, I saw a response in a different post in this forum that advised against stirring the sand bed. Now maybe I should have put this question in that thread, but I didn't want it to get buried or pull away from the other poster.

 

So, do people disturb the sand bed? I've been using a gravel vac for water changes. I've got 3 tanks (75g, 29g, and 10g) all FOWLR. Eventually, I'd like to get corals, but I've been taking it slow (a VERY hard thing to do in this hobby). Bed in 10 g is about 1 1/2" of sand. The 75 and 29 are larger crushed coral at about 2" or so. So, when I do the water change, the bed gets stirred up.

 

I should also say that I've had a couple of cyno outbreaks and that is slowly but surely getting under control.

 

So, should I stop with the gravel vac?

 

Thanks

 

William

[Rascal]

With deep sand beds (>3-4") I would say definitely do not disturb them. I am not sure whether this same rule would apply to shallow sand beds though, which is what yours is. As for the CC, the best advice I could give is to remove it. If you are having problems with high nitrates and/or nuisance algae growth, the CC is likely one of the causes.

[Buucca]

With deep sand beds (>3-4") I would say definitely do not disturb them. I am not sure whether this same rule would apply to shallow sand beds though, which is what yours is. As for the CC, the best advice I could give is to remove it. If you are having problems with high nitrates and/or nuisance algae growth, the CC is likely one of the causes.

 

In my experience vacuuming the first 1/4" to 1/2" is good, but if you go deeper it can generate an algal bloom that can drive you nuts. I generally do one half the aquarium and do the other half the following week.

 

Bill

[Guest webshout]

With deep sand beds (>3-4") I would say definitely do not disturb them. I am not sure whether this same rule would apply to shallow sand beds though, which is what yours is. As for the CC, the best advice I could give is to remove it. If you are having problems with high nitrates and/or nuisance algae growth, the CC is likely one of the causes.

 

Yeah, I'm working on getting my refugium online. That should help. Family life keeps giving me distractions, however.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

William

 

Oh yeah, is deeper sand bed better? Or is that worthy of another thread?

[Brian Ward]

 

Yeah, I'm working on getting my refugium online. That should help. Family life keeps giving me distractions, however.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

William

 

Oh yeah, is deeper sand bed better? Or is that worthy of another thread?

 

 

 

Deeper sand bed doesn't matter until you go to a true DSB. That's generally 6+" of sand - it works to supplement the nitrogen cycle and keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels down.

[Rascal]

One of the primary benefits of a DSB is the natural nitrate reduction (NNR) achieved by the population of anaerobic bacteria which process nitrate (the end product of the aerobic nitrifying bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrite then nitrite to nitrate) into harmless nitrogen gas, which is then released as bubbles. Most sources I have read say this doesn't happen much under 3". I always recommend 4" as a minimum because there will usually be some settling over time, IME. While I believe deeper is probably better, in terms of de-nitrification at least, I am not sure you absolutely need 6" or more to have a true DSB. Ron Shimek, who has probably been the most adamant proponent of DSBs, used a 4" DSB as the basis for this article: http://www.ronshimek.com/Deep%20Sand%20Beds.htm.

 

Calfo also talks about 3" as the being the minimum for NNR benefits, although he does say, "When nitrate control is your primary ambition, use deep fine beds of sand. Smaller aquaria (under 75 gallons) should employ at least 3” of media; larger aquaria will benefit from 6’ (15 cm) or more." Here's the full article / exerpt from his book if anyone's interested: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/deepsandbeds.htm

Edited January 15, 2008 by Rascal

[YBeNormal]

I doubt that you will have much of an anaerobic zone with crushed coral unless you go much deeper than 6". Do yourself a favor and vacuum a little of the CC out with each water change until it is almost all out. In the meantime, do lots of research to help you decide if you want to go bare bottom, thin or deep sand bed within the tank--maybe even adding a remote deep sand bed in a bucket, tub or trash can. There are pros and cons to all of these approaches and you will find people are pretty much divided over which is best and there are plenty of very successful tanks in each category. The right answer is the one that you understand and feel most comfortable with.

[Guest webshout]

Ok, I read the two articles and really got my interest peaked. In the process of further investigation I found this discussion:

 

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic20039-13-1.aspx

 

and this link on 5gbuckett DSB.:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=595109

 

 

I've got a lot more research and thniking to do, but this is intriguing.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

William