Deep Sand Bed in a nano

[Brett]

Hi everyone... This is my first post here. I'm planning to start a nano reef in a 5G hex tank that I've had at work for a while. I've got a 72G reef that's been going for a while. On the bigger reef tanks the general recommendation is to use a DSB of 4-6 inches or even more. Obviously putting a 6" sand bed in a tank that's only 10" high would be a bit rediculous. A 4" sand bed would probably be doable, but it would still take a lot of room in the tank and I don't know if it would really be effective in reducing nitrates anyway. I was wondering what the general consensus on sand bed depth over here was.

 

Thanks,

Brett

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Mine is 1" deep aragonite, about the size of instant coffee crystals. I stir it every once in awhile. It seems to stay clean without any effort on my part, I have some baja snails and mini-starfish that burrow into it.

Tasha

[chvynva916]

I have 4" in both my 10g and my 10g fuge. I never have nitrate problems, though its difficult to say why that might be. I have tons of infauna, so I guess that's good.

[MKramer]

The short version: You will not get the DSB benefits in a nano, because the sand bed area is not large enough to support the desired fauna for long. You will still get some denitrifying effect, but it will be a minimal gain over a safer, less-deep bed.

 

If you're a reefcentral reader, Dr. Ron has written several good, lengthy posts on the topic. Search for them, and let me know if you can't find them, because I know I saw the links somewhere recently.

[LEEWINK]

Personally, i don't beleive dsb's work in a small tank, this is my personal view though.

 

I have had one in my tank for about a year now, and had nothing but bad algae, this is probably the same of many people here complaining of algae.

 

Mimicking nature is far far easier on a large tank, as the obvious space will allow for proper dsb's of 6 inch plus depth, on a small tank like i have, i have got 3 - 3 1/2 inch, and it has plainly failed me.

 

Again, and only personally, I would stick to a light covering of say, 1 inch or less, and use top grade live rock.

 

The obvious advantage here is you can deep clean the sand bed for detritus removal, There is no way to me of doing this to a dsb, and the little critters in the dsb can't do magic and keep it what i call clean.

 

To me again, detritus in a small tank is the way not to go.

 

So my answer, or my plan now is total bare base, this in a nano is especially beneficial, as all the detritus is quickly lifted into the water column, and skimmed off. I will run a detritus free tank now, and probably will run this technique to whatever tank size i have in the future, mine now is 27x12x15.

 

cheers

 

lee

 

:) :)

[danano]

Gravel in my 10G slopes from 2-3" at the back to about 1" up front. DSB (>4") probably doesn't make sense for a Nano unless you have a tall tank.

[LiQuiD]

You won't get the nitrification as in a larger system so don't bother attemting it to benifit your tank. Add what you think looks good and just go on that and don't bother with the DSB effect, it is not worth the waste of prime real estate in a 5 gallon for something that will have very minimal effects.

[onthefly]

Everything and everyone's opinion on: how they work, why they don't work, who believes in them, who doesn't, and some other DSB babbling!

 

They definitely are helpful in larger tanks, and the jury is still out as far as nanos. Personally, I think Tasha has the right idea. The oolic sands can provide denitrification is much smaller volumes, besides they look better!!!!

[sjpresley]

If you want to know about DSBs the best source is Ron Shimek. They were his idea and he has done more work with them than most (if not all). Read his posts on reef central and search the internet to find other articles he has written on them.

 

In general, they are unstable in small tanks and populations of many animals that are beneficial in larger tanks eventually crash.