Jaubert System

[Frank A.1]

Hi,
I've put this question on the freshwater section and it has been viewed by a few but no one has replied so I'm hoping someone from this section can help me. The question I have is "will the Jaubert system work in a freshwater tank"?

Thank You for any help,
Frank A.

 

[brandonberry]

I can't think of any reason it wouldn't. I personally prefer more of a DSB approach to my freshwater tanks in conjunction with live plants. Blackworms can be used in place of the worms commonly found in marine sandbeds, however most fish will eat them so they may need to be restocked every so often. In addition asian clams can be found is almost any body of water and make good sand sifters as well as filtering out a lot of nitrogenous wastes. Were you thinking about going with a true Jaubert system with the plenum and everything?

 

[Frank A.1]

Hey, Brandonberry, thanks for the reply. Yes,I'm planning on using the Jaubert system from top to bottom. I'm setting up this 40 gal. tank for my grand kids, hoping that it will lead to something in the future. Do you have any web sites for the blackworms and other critters for the sandbed and do you have any other advice to help make this work?

Thanks,

Frank A.

 

[brandonberry]

This is supposed to be the best place to get them:

http://shop.easternaquatics.com/main.sc

You can also try to catch some aquatic earthworms in a local stream. You can often find them just by turning over rocks. They look almost exactly like small terrestrial earthworms but will live under water.

 

[jhemdal1]

I know this borders on the heretical to mention, but don't forget that Jaubert's systems at the Monaco Aquarium were given 3 to 5% water changes daily with fresh seawater. You can pretty much just keep a bare tank and an airstone when changing that much water.....


Jay

 

[Frank A.1]

Thanks everybody for the info. I'm going to set the tank up with a plenum and 4"of sand with lots of plants. I like the idea of blackworms altho I don't think they will last long with the fish.

 

[jhemdal1]

Frank,

You should check out a freshwater plant message board, they do DSB's all the time, but don't call it a jaubert system. Also, they don't use just sand, but rather a mixture of materials including iron rich laterite clay - serves are nutrients for the plants.
If you intent is not to grow lots of live plants, then my advice is to not try to emulate a Jaubert system in freshwater. Nitrates are simply not a problem in a system that you can literally turn on a tap and get rid of them with a simple water change. Also, nitrate reduction in a non-buffered freshwater system (without regular water changes) is going to result in a catestrophic lowering of the pH - down to 5.0 or below. If you do the water changes to keep the pH up, then the nitrate go away as well!


Jay