[e_baer]

alright, so in my refugium i will be putting a sand bed in there. I have heard stories whewer gas's get built up under the sand boed and then seep into the water killing fish and inverts. I was thinking of having a 4 inch sand bed. Would gas's get built up under my sand? I plan on having some snails and a sand sifting star fish or 2. maybe a s ea cuke as well. do you ithink i have enough animals keeping the sand bed stirred?

[lynnvangsnes]

Deep Sand Beds
A good article on DSBs. A sea cuke will be excellent and is on my list for the next critter addition. My DSB is 4-5 inches. Move your LR off your DSB as burrowing critters will cause avalanches. Possibly consider a horseshoe crab. They stir up a lot, and are quite interesting. Sand sifting star is good. Get some cerith and nasarrius snails and possible a conch...they will all help with sand stirring and yes, you will need these creatures to keep gas from building up.

[e_baer]

alright, i actually have all those things in my display tank, ill just move a few to the sump area.

[e_baer]

thanks for the articel...that was very helpful!

[Cela Vie]

Interesting. From that article, there is no need for any sand sifting creatures...

[e_baer]

well, depending on how deep the bed is, bad gasses can build up, andwhen they are released, everyhting will die. so if it is realeased tiny amounts at a time, there is no harm. im gonna try some sand sifting sea cukes, some conchs, and maybe a goby of some sort.

[lynnvangsnes]

Beware of the engineer goby. They're cute when they're small, and they really dig around the tank. The get to be 14" long, looking like eels...and they still DIG at that size; just something I've picked up recently. You need something to dig around under to keep it stirred...say a couple of inches under; I'm getting a cuke probably within the next month.

[Cela Vie]

Great...I guess I won't be taking down my 37 FOWLR when I set up the 90 reef. I've got two small engineers in there. It's CC so their having fun, but they ain't going in the reef to dig it up (even though none of the LR will be sitting on sand as the sand will going in after the LR and I only plan on having 1" worth of sand). Anybody want two engineer gobys?

[e_baer]

i also have an engineer goby in my 55. had it about a year now. about 6-8" long, loves the sand. will come out and swim around during feeding time. no rocks ever shift around for me. then again, i put them directly on the glass.

[Marc Smith]

This would also help....

[e_baer]

lol, WOW, how did you know i had gas problems?!?!?? lol....that is clever of you to add that.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

If one article debunking the old hydrogen sulfide myth wasnt enough read this one.DSB article - CALFO

[TurningTim]

Originally Posted by NATIVEVAMAN

If one article debunking the old hydrogen sulfide myth wasnt enough read this one.DSB article - CALFO

Its not really about debunking. There are certain parameters in which anything we do to our tanks will or won't work. AC is saying it will work if 1,2,3......

Here in lies the issue. Most hobbyists are not well versed enough, don't have time or for whatever reason. Don't set up correctly execute properly and bad things can and do happen.

I mean does anyone here have 30,40 or 50x flow rate in their tank?

Besides that I just don't think a fuge/dsb under 25% of the DT volume is going to do a whole lot.........

There was a thread on RC about remote DSB's with AC included. Good read I'll see if I can find it.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I think what he said was if you put a dsb in your tank then dont put in the things that destroy it like sand sifting gobbies,star fish and horseshoe crabs that eat all the things that make a dsb work.Also there is "old tank" syndrom that can be eleviated by adding some "miracle mud", moving a few rocks around and changing the water flow pattern slightly.

[e_baer]

well, the tank is a 55 and ill use a 20 for the figs/sump. thew only reason i even want a fuge/sump is to put my skimmer in ther eand to grow cheato. i have a 55 and i have 6 poweheads doing 360gph. the dsb wont be in me tank, it will be in the fuge/sump. nad ill only put stuff in there to stir the sand around, plus they look cool.

[TurningTim]

But the RDSB or any other should never become saturated as defined/decried by the critics. With proper waterflow and (solids) nutrient export at large, there just isn't enough matter to sink and begin to accumulate. And the fine sand (<1mm) in particular does not allow the penetration but rather deflects large solids for them to carry on with currents and stay (properly) in suspension long(er) enough for filter feeders to utilize them or skimmers/filters to simply export or trap them. The reality, again, though is that most folks lack adequate water flow, lack adequate skimmer maintenance, and/or overfeed/overstock. As such... their DSBs really do become burdened over time.

.

Anthony Calfo

Quote from MD forums, I guess thats where AC hangs his hat now. Cool!