DSB in a FOWLR?

[IcantTHINKofONE]

What do you recommend for a FOWLR (aggressive/messy fish) as substrate? 1/2" aragonite or a DSB?

 

[tinyreef]

i'd go with the dsb. the aragonite chips can have food creep down below and their decay won't help your bioload. you can see chunks easier on a dsb and still get the benefits of denitrating. also cukes and such can exist on the dsb vs. the aragonite chips.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

what about stirring? Wont a puffer or a morray eel mix up a DSB too much? And how about cleaning it since there won't be any clean up crew? Should I vacuum?

 

[esmithiii]

Stirring is not too big of an issue, and there will be organisms living in the sand bed which will process all uneaten food.

It will help process the nitrates produced by those heavy-bioload fish.

Ernie

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

Great Thanx! I was hoping i could have a DSB especially after reading the recent post/poll about LR lol.

 

[esmithiii]

IMO a DSB is not a substitute for LR, but the two together provide a healthy environment for fish and inverts. Just my opinion.

Ernie

 

[Anonymous]

I've always thought that if you are going to have a Fish only tank, buy minimal lights and grow tons of caulerpa in there.

It will feed larger herbivores, plus keep nitrates low, and no fear of growing over corals.

I keep caulerpa in all of my fish only tanks.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

Dr. Reef it will be a predator tank. The only fish that will eat greens is a yellow tang.

 

[fishfarmer]

I would think it would depend on what fish you are planning on getting. I have a DSB in a 120 gal FOWLR. This houses a couple of tangs, a lunare wrasse and a blue damsel. The sandbed seems to be working, but I could probably use more rock and a better skimmer to keep water parameters at coral tolerances. I think my wrasse may be sifting the sand for food. The top layer get turned well by the activity of the fish at feeding time. I'm seeing the various colors/bubbles/worm trails in the bed, but nitrates are 10 to 20 ppm(could be the thin layer of bioballs in the sump though).

The predominant algae I see growing is hair algae and that is only in the upper part of the tank where the tangs can't reach and the sea urchins can't crop.

 

[Anonymous]

Dr. Reef it will be a predator tank. The only fish that will eat greens is a yellow tang.

I still suggest keeping caulerpa. It competes for resources with the hair algae, and is much prettier. You can prune it and flush it down the toilet, or dry it outside first to prevent invasion "downstream" and then flush it.

It will really help with nitrates, and you won't have to worry about you fish eating it all!

You can get it for free, it is no sweat to keep under decent low light, and looks pretty, as well as filters!

 

[esmithiii]

The caulerpa is a good idea.

Dr. Reef- Love your sig. I am an alumn and a big UGA fan even though I live in the heart of Vol country. Man, Orange is a sickening color!

Ernie

 

[seahawkjohnny]

What do you recommend for a FOWLR (aggressive/messy fish) as substrate? 1/2" aragonite or a DSB?

It depends on the fish involved...I used to have a 20" Queen Trigger, a 16" Lionfish, and a large Moray Eel in a 180, and I would change 50 gallons of water a month, there was way too much waste for a DSB, I would vacuum half the substrate on a water change than do the other half on the next WC, this keept my nitrates below 50, which is good considering how much they got fed, I had a wet/dry, with a Berlin skimmer with a RIO 2500 for the skimmer...I would feed them frozen beefheart, and jumbo shrimp from the grocery store...if you want your fish to get big beefheart is the key

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

I've just had an idea. What if I put one of those spiny urchins in the tank? He would probably keep the sand bed clean and i doubt any fish can swallow those spikes.

 

[esmithiii]

Most urchins will stay off of the substrate.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

Any suggestions for a sand bed cleaner that won't get eaten by a morray eel, puffer, harlequin tusk, or lionfish?

 

[Anonymous]

Any suggestions for a sand bed cleaner that won't get eaten by a morray eel, puffer, harlequin tusk, or lionfish?

I'd go with a vacuum tang. I'll others will likely get eaten.

I wouldn't worry to much about it in a FOWLR. I siphon off the detritus during my monthly WC's, but there's not much there. It stays pretty clean. So long as it's not overloaded with fish anyway!

Louey