Deep sand bed or no deep sand bed, thats the question?

hi guys, well in my new tank im running a good 3 to 4" sand bed, but was recommended by a lfs manager that alot of detritus and sh1t will begin to build up over time in the deep sand bed and over a period of time it will begin to cause problems

in the lfs that he works they run their main display tank with barely any substrate at all ie 2 cm and regularly vacuum the sand bed and he says that this definately adds to the clarity of the water,,

just looking for some other opinions!
cheers in advance

callum

Well done callum, you found an lfs keeper that isn't just helpful on marines, they apparently know a bit about them as well.
To have a sand bed in the old style of the plenums is to the detriment to all marine aquarium life, steer away from the sand bed in the aquarium idea Callum!

What shop do go to callum

Dude i give a big fat no to deep sand beds in an aquarium,they don't last

alright guys thanks for you help the tank is looking mint at the moment







so i now know my job for the weekend, ill be getting the majority of that deep sand bed out!! how much is reccomended then guys?

Callum for asthetic reasons you only need a few mil of sand in the aquarium,if any at all and syphon it off once month with an undergravel style syphon hose and funnel end on it to get the rubbish out.

If you want extra nitrate oxidising that a deep sand bed is for,you can make your own externaly,they are easy to build for any type of setup if you understand how the principal works!

The best to build is something verticle like a section of storm water pipe with partitions and the grades of sand for good anerobic functioning.

I am with the others on deep sand beds,hey which lfs was honest about substrates?

Hi guys ive got a mate i go fishing with who works as the marine section manager at the pet supersaptore on redland bay road in capalaba.
So explain again you lost me there with how to make that thing with the storm water pipe... So im aiming to make a replica of the deep sand bed but outside the tank.. Have u got any pictures of one???n

To make a nitrate oxidising section, that is the deep sand beds main objective, you just need the water to pass over it!

This can be done any where in many types of containers.

The pipe is just a little more compact way and no there are no pics of it.

The pipe one has if you look down it, a tiny gap down one side, egg crate with mesh cover stuck to it over lapping the egg crate so it seals in the grit, than the grit fills of most of the pipe area, than another egg crate with mesh on the inside of it over laping and the grits weight pushes the egg crates against the pipe walls leaving a small gap for the water to go past it and some gravity fed water to move ever so slowely through it, a vertical nitrate reactor/deep sand bed has been made!

You just hold the egg crates in place as you fill between them with grit.

The way a deep sand bed works is originally conceived from the plenum system more so than anything else,they found the nitrate oxiding affects of this via the old undergravel filters,they were just turned off and left in place.

All this is an area with firstly a support level of normally egg crate/light diffuser with fly screen or similar over it, than you put say 1 or 2 inches of course shell grit on it or against it depending on if it is horizontal, than the same thickness of slightly finer grit than fine grit on top or if vertical the same fine grit in the whole thickness of your external deep sand bed.

The water has to be pre filtered before it gets to these types of filtrations, as should all waters connected to your aquarium, no bio filtration anywhere in the aquarium will have longevity at it’s most effective levels with out pre filtering!

These types of anaerobic filtration are very simple, just run water over or past a calcium based fine sized media in a substrate form and it can not fail to reduce nitrate, the bigger the surface area the more nitrate it converts and they do a little of nitrite oxidising in the surface of them.