Do you stir up your DSB??

[Lynn]

Do you just leave the top of the dsb as is? or should I be stirring it up or anything? If so how often?

 

[Mouse]

cukes, nassarus snails or queen conches. Dont what ever you do stir it up yourself, you will unleash something of such evil that it could wipe out your tank. If you have diatoms or cyano then you can syphon it off, but never stir.

 

[dgasmd]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Dont what ever you do stir it up yourself, you will unleash something of such evil that it could wipe out your tank.

What are you talking about? What is this something evil thing you speak of. And if it is in my tank, what's keeping it from killing everything now?

 

[danmhippo]

Hydrogen Sulfate and other gas and chemicals. When worms do it for you, they slow release these little by little. But when we stick our big fat fingers in it to give it a good stir, many of these chemical compounds releases all at once and could seriously disrupt the chemical ion balances.

 

[Anonymous]

dimaggio

Your DSB is supposed to house thousands of small creatures that keep it stirred. If you stir the sand, you will kill many of these animals and cause an ammonia spike.
The hydrogen sulfide gas is present in such small quantities that it will not be harmful. This is a presistant myth in the hobby.

 

[danmhippo]

cwa, I am not saying you heard wrong, because I've heard of same arguments. However what doesn't make sense to me is that when you stir the DSB your self, I can clearly smell the Hydrogen Sulfide (the rotten egg smell). Many times (Umm, I have done this quite many times, mostly trying to add/relocate macro algae), the smell won't go away for days.

Arguments of causing ammonia spike doesn't make sense. If you only stir the top layers of the DSB where it is supposed to be the aerobic zone, you wouldn't kill off the aerobic bacteria as the result of your stiring motion and it should not caused the ammonia spike.

In the instances that an ammonia spike is possible is when there is a sudden occurance of anaerobic condition. And the only reasonable way that is possible is the DSB is disturbed deep enough down to the anerobic layer. If there were any ammonia spike, it should be a result of aerobic bacteria die-off and micro fauna die-offs..

 

[JohnD]

Dr. Ron Shimek in his small book about DSBs discusses the various critters found in a sand bed. (From my memory) when he gets done with his calculations, the critters turn the entire volume of the bed over once a day. The key is the process required 24 hours, not the 10 seconds your hand takes to turn the bed over.

I think a general rule in this hobby is Go Slow. When ever the hobbiest does something fast, something(s) bad usually happen. Going slow allows the system to adjust. The same IMHO for the DSB turnover.

HTH

 

[fishfarmer]

You don't need to disturb your bed as mentioned above, but FWIW I moved my setup last weekend. My DSB sump was moved last Friday. I thought I could move the 20 gal sump with DSB intact...NOT! I had to remove the top ~1" of sand/caulerpa from my 4" bed. It was pretty dark around the roots of the caulerpa and looked/smelled like a sea grass mudflat. This sump got plumbed to my 55 gallon. Most of the caulerpa/sand was added back to the sump, some sand went to the 55 gallon DSB.

I noticed trace nitrites and ~10 ppm nitrates(fastest) late Saturday. On Sunday the remainder of my 38 gal tank was moved, including the 1" cc/sugar sized bed. This bed also smelled alot like the beach at low tide. I rinsed most of the detritus out of this and tried removing the bigger pieces of substrate. The remaining sand went in the 55 gal. By midweek ammonia/nitrite are zero. Nitrates still ~10 ppm.

It's been a week so far and everything is looking good. The sump bed is getting caulerpa regrowth and some cyano.

I'll keep you posted on water params.

 

[whusband]

don't stir it up if you don't have to, but sometimes you gotta, like when you move. i've moved a tank with a sandbed 6 times now w/o major problems. so if you ever have to do it, here's what works for me:

i always use a chemical agent to detox the ammonia, and add nitrobacter/cycle in to try and even things out. when the sand is put in the tank, i add enough clean water to bring the water level 2 inches above the sand. at this point i add the chemicals and siphon the water out. Then i add water and the pieces of rock devoid of corals etc. i also always make sure to have the whole system running so things will clear up before adding the livestock back in

the only problems i have encountered is the loss of spaghetti worms. they repopulate over time, but the move seems to wipe out most of them. everybody else seems to do just fine

 

[M.E.Milz]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> i always use a chemical agent to detox the ammonia, and add nitrobacter/cycle in to try and even things out. when the sand is put in the tank, i add enough clean water to bring the water level 2 inches above the sand. at this point i add the chemicals and siphon the water out. Then i add water and the pieces of rock devoid of corals etc. i also always make sure to have the whole system running so things will clear up before adding the livestock back in

<hr></blockquote>

What "chemical agent" did you use?