Lately, everybody has been all high on DSB's for their ability to remove nitrogen from the tank. Does live rock not accomplish the same purpose in that its deeper zones are anaerobic and encourage production of N2 from nitrate. The reason I ask is because at this point, it would be very difficult for me to add fine sand to my tank unless I remove the 1000 lbs of live rock and all the corals attached to it. Does the large volume of rock not do the same thing? I do have about 3 or 4" of coarse coral sand under my rocks in my home tank.
DSB vs Live Rock?
- Thread starter texman
- Start date
yeah it does the same thing, just not as efficiently. there are other benefits to the DSB as well, biodiversity and the like.
your coral bed and rock will do fine if you don't want to bother.
the crushed coral bed isn't necessarily a good thing, it's courseness tends to trap detritus.
it will be a chore as i am sure you know to change them out.
that is crushed coral right? not coarse aragonite? you might be able to lay some fine stuff over it.
I recently built a new tank at my office and used fine grain sand for a DSB. Upon doing so, I generated enough particulate matter to entirely cloud the tank for 1 week. I do have a refugium at home, but am concerned that if I drop in more fine sand, that the particulate matter will get all over my sensitive corals in the main tank. I was under the impression that the fine sand should not be washed. Should I wash it in my situation?
I agree. My 175g FOWLR tank has some huge eaters that consume almost a pound of raw fish per week. Although I have a substantial amount of live rock (which has its own unique benefits), I credit the 5"-6" DSB with keeping nitrates reasonable - usually in the 10 ppm range.
texman":kmyw0sfi said:
You should not wash the sand. If you added some live rock along with the sand in the new tank, your sand would've settled in a couple of days because of the bacteria in the rock. In order to add sand to an existing tank with minimal impact, use a large diameter PVC pipe (maybe 2" dia.) to deliver the sand directly to the substrate. This should produce minimal clouding.
I "cure" new sand (southdown, caribsea) in a rubbermaid tub with salted water and then "feed" it brine shrimp or other dead stuff to spike the bacteria that will lay the sand down.
I only add seasoned or "live" sand to existing tanks.
I never wash my sand, and I do not reccomend washing it. With fine sand, you simply lose too much in the washing, and the fine aragonite is where you get your buffering.
I agree with danmhippo about the porous rock.
Fighting conchs may reduce your detritus before it seeps down into the crannies- they might prefer sand, but I bet they would lick the detritus from the crannies of your CC.
I also agree that adding a large sump with a DSB, or adding a DSB to your sump would be a better way to go.
Do you really have 1000 lbs. of Live Rock?
8O
You have this in a swimming pool?
I only add seasoned or "live" sand to existing tanks.
I never wash my sand, and I do not reccomend washing it. With fine sand, you simply lose too much in the washing, and the fine aragonite is where you get your buffering.
I agree with danmhippo about the porous rock.
Fighting conchs may reduce your detritus before it seeps down into the crannies- they might prefer sand, but I bet they would lick the detritus from the crannies of your CC.
I also agree that adding a large sump with a DSB, or adding a DSB to your sump would be a better way to go.
Do you really have 1000 lbs. of Live Rock?
8O
You have this in a swimming pool?
I used that pre-curing the dry sand trick a couple of times and it works like a charm everytime. Same as Palmetto, I throw sand directly into a garbage can and add old tank water to it. A powerhead and some food to spike nitrogen readings. I wait until when I agitate the sand, I no longer create dust storms. The sand is by now ready to be added to the tank. It takes a couple of weeks for all bacteria to coat each single grain of sand, but I don't lose any fine particles either.
I agree with Dan and Palmetto on adding the newly cured sand to your tank using the large diameter pipe and add a funnel to the top. I dumped in one cup of sand at a time using this system and my tank was cleared up in a few hours. I only had to add about 100 LBS in a 75G. I did one third additions spread out over a couple of days to lessen the impact on the animals. You must be thinking of adding what, 500 lbs or so? That would be a major pita, but it could be done IMHO.
Louey
Louey
Thanks guys, maybe I will try to add some cured sand to my tank. I still have a few bags left that I bought from these www.purearagonite.com guys. I used that in the 250g tank in my office. It is a lot finer than what I have in my 500g tank at home. I do have fairly low nitrate levels in my tank as it is, but do get occasional algae blooms (right now). I am not sure what causes these, but suspect that some sort of nutrient is out of whack.
One more thing to note: when adding fine sand to crushed coral, even if you completely cover the CC- the big pieces will ooze back up to the top. It is pretty weird. The creatures do strange things to the sandbed, and all the big pieces end up back on top.
If I didn't have brittle stars, I am sure it would not happen quite so completely, but Shimek also mentions that this ends up happening eventually.
Not that this would affect your decision in any way, just an observation.
If I didn't have brittle stars, I am sure it would not happen quite so completely, but Shimek also mentions that this ends up happening eventually.
Not that this would affect your decision in any way, just an observation.
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