Depth of Southdown

[ynot]

I'm hesitant about going with a DSB in my tank since I have no access to detrivore kits here in Canada. My concern is that the DSB will harden up. Has anyone gone with a Southdown DSB and not used detrivore kits? To be safe, would I be okay with 1-2" of Southdown...wouldn't I get some denitrification and wouldn't the fine particles of Southdown support the life from the live rock much better than the crushed coral would?

 

[Len]

1-2" will achieve some denitrification (the purpose of DSBs), but not a whole lot. I'd go with a 3-5" of southdown, and seed it with either a friend's established tank or from a good LFS. If all else fails, live rock will seed the substrate with benthic fauna - just that it won't be as diverse as it could be with live sand. I can't imagine that no retailer is willing to ship to Canada.

Regardless, it will be better then CC.

 

[ynot]

Anyone?

 

[ynot]

Thanks, Len. I noticed we posted at the same time. LOL! My main concern is that the DSB would lock up on me and I'd really like to minimize that possibility. I guess the risk is high without the detrivore kit. I'll look into the cost and practicality of of getting one to my area.

 

[Len]

Risk isn't that high for the substrate to pack and solidfy. This process takes some time, and by then, you're substrate should be adequetely seeded with infauna to prevent this from occurring. I'd purposefully feed the substrate for the first month or two to encourage benthic population.

To answer your initial question: I've seen many successful setups with 2-5" substrate that don't utilize live sand (in any quantity). Shouldn't be a problem, although it's much safer and healthier if you can seed it with as much diversity as possible. Again, look around for mail-order retailers, or check out good LFS or aquarium socities for cultured detrivore kits (eg samples of other ppl's substrates).

 

[ynot]

Len, do you have any idea as to how long these non seeded DSB's have been successfully operating? I general, I'm curious as to experiences with respect to DSB longevity.

Have there been any bad experiences with DSB's?

 

[Carpentersreef]

ynot,
I've been unable to find any detrivore kits up here, either. JL Aquatics have cleanup kits (hermits and snails), but no "garf grunge" type of thing.
One place that I am very happy with is saltwaterconnection.com. GARF actually recommended them to me.
I bought 20lbs. of live sand from them, that they culture themselves. Lots of worms and critters, but they tell me that what they do is place oolitic sand under the LR that they cure in 350g tubs and sell that as live sand. I haven't found anybody that will ship animals to Canada. I don't think I would necessarily want to, either. Delays with Canada customs and the time delays would make it difficult (animal survival) and too expensive for most companies to purchase the required permits.

Mitch

 

[Carpentersreef]

Oh yeah,

Where are you finding southdown up here anyways???

Mitch

 

[afss]

I have a southdown DSB that is 3-4 inches deep. ITs in my 90 gallon and was only seeded with the crushed coral from my 29 gallon and the live rock that was in my 29 gallon. The 29 had been set up for just over a year, but it was started with dry cc and just some un cured live rock. I have added a bit more live rock to the 90 than was in the 29, but not much, as I added about 40 lbs of dead rock that I had collected from the beaches when i lived in florida. The dsb seems to be working. I don't really test for nitrates or anything for that matter, but my corals all seem to be much happier with the sand bed than with the crushed coral. I also now keep the crushed coral in the sump for its buffering properties. If you want to pay for shipping I could send you a bit of my sand and or crushed coral to help you seed the bed, but I would think that simply getting a bit of uncured (if the tank is new and in cycle anyway) live rock would be the best way to seed it.
Scott
BTW where in NFLD are you?
_________________
Honda N360

 

[ynot]

Carpenter, thanks for the tip on saltwater connection. The concerns you raised about getting a kit from the US were along the lines of what I was thinking as well. I picked up the Southdown in Bangor, Maine, on my way out of the US during vacation this summer. I must have checked about 5 Home Depot's while I was driving through the northeast US. Bangor was a stroke of luck and my last opportunity. I picked up three 50 lb bags at 3.99 USD each!

Afss, I'm in St. John's. Thanks for offering to help with some live sand. That's very kind of you. I have really noticed how friendly and civil the reef boards are, compared with some other board's I've been involved with over the internet. I've had a 38 gallon with cc for a year now, and there is quite of bit of life in the rock and some in the cc as well. I'll probably bag the cc and throw it in on top of the DSB for the first couple of weeks. I may also pick up some live sand from saltwater connection.

Thanks guys.

 

[esmithiii]

I think 4-6" is what you should shoot for. Your LR will seed the sand.

E

 

[Anonymous]

I removed most of my CC and added 3-4 inches of SD sand over it. I have not purchassed a detrivore kit and I do not plan to. In a matter of hours the worms and pods were borrowing away at the sand. In days I saw numerous trails through the sand against the glass. It seems that the worms quickly migrate through the LR into the sand.

GL

Dan

 

[ynot]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I'm going to go ahead and give the DSB a try.

 

[afss]

one thing to consider is the length of time for the water to clear after adding the SD. Mine took about a week to clear up to the point that I felt safe putting any fish in. In My case this was OK as I was just setting up the 90 and was only going to be transfering fish from my 29 to the 90. If you are adding it to an existing tank you may want to have a seperate temporary home for your fish and corals
_________________
Jeremy Labiano

 

[Len]

ynot,

Some of those tanks are relatively old. >5 years.