Plenum or no?

[Omni2226]

Hello.

I have kept freshwater tanks for years using the "natural" way
( no filters,heaters,air pumps etc, just fish, plants and dirt) and would like to use this same approach to setting up a saltwater tank.IE: as little maintanance as possible.

I have been doing massive amounts of reading and asking questions at my local fish stores. ( Talk about diversity, some know a lot others I woulndt trust to babysit a goldfish) and what I plan is to start with a fish and liverock/sand set up then after a few months add corals.

Anyway my question is this. With LR and sand would a plenum be beneficial or overkill? Im not to crazy about relying strictly on the sandbed and I also understand there is a slight chance the sandbed can "crash" and cause major trouble.

What I,m thinking is with a plenum even if the critters in the sand crash it wont be a major crisis.

And I love this site. One of the best I have found.

 

[MartinE]

Lots of different answers for this question, I think the main way of thinking nowadays is that a plenum is not needed if you have a deep sand bed, or DSB. Some folks will still swear by the plenums usefulness, or no sand bed at all.

 

[ChrisRD]

I've known people who've tried plenum setups and ultimately gone back to regular sandbeds after seeing no advantage. Personally, I've never bothered with them and don't see the need.

IMO it was one of those fad ideas that never really achieved widespread popularity because it doesn't seem to offer any real world advantages over a "regular" sandbed and is more complicated to setup. I haven't seen one in use since the 90s.

I say skip the idea.

 

[Omni2226]

Thank you for the replys. As far as set up they are actualy easy to make. Some pvc window screen and "eggcrate" but I think you may be right as to one not being really needed.

I,m almost done making my list of parts and setup equpment. I,ll start another post for that though.

Again thank you for the replys.

 

[Anonymous]

:welcome:

To answer your quest for a simple set up. I would suggest. A bigger than required skimmer, lots of circulation, and good lighting. That is all I use and it works fine.

 

[Anonymous]

Plenums work. They work just as good as sandbeds without plenums.