aquariumdebacle
electrolyte addict
I thought I would make my own thread here as I don't want to confuse anyone by using facts. I too jumped on the deep sand bed wagon and after having many numerous conversations including two six hour ones with the ever so humble Mr. O'Brien, I have come to the conclusion that everyone is wrong and that my sand bed performed miracuously!
I recently had the pleasure of moving my 120 gallon tank and 300 lbs of wet sand (where were ya Mike? I couldn't seem to get a hold of you!) When I got past the first layer I noticed pristine clean sand. This is not an exaggeration. The sand was as clean as when I put it in two years ago. It did get a milky appearance from the pariculate dust as I did not rinse it at installation. There was zero detritus and absolutely no stink. There was not even the usual "beach" smell. The "bio-balls" were entirely clean with no detritus in them at all. The sump did not have any accumulations of any kind.
The way that I designed and installed the system had erverything to do with the success. The maintainance and stocking were contrary to all reasonable or even sane practices. I aged the bed properly for about a half year. Then I aged Tonga branch coral for a few months. I then drained the tank and added fresh saltwater. I overstocked the tank with thirty chromis and a bunch of shrimps, crabs and a lobster. I fed primarily Tetra Spirulina Conditioning food in excessive quantities two or three, sometimes four or five times a day as the mood hit me. I added two sand sifting Orange Spot gobies and two Watchman gobies that immediately decimated my beautiful worm collection over the entire bed within a day. So much for diversity. I have an Aqua Medic Turbofloater protein skimmer attached directly to the display. There was a heavy accumulation of detritus on the rockwork that fed my hair algae nicely. The detritus did not accumulate in the sand and there was no cyano visible on the sand or in the system as a whole. The attached refugium was fed from the overflow and then flowed into the main display. The refugium was kept clean of algae by huge amounts of copepods and algae was only able to grow on the walls. The stability of the sand bed was kept intact by a series of eggcrate plates that formed a structure three and three-quarters of an inch deep. This kept the rockwork out of the sandbed and prevented it from being disturbed. The Tonga Branch liverock allowed a minimal footprint to increase surface exposure for the sand bed. Circulation was good but provided by only two Mag5 pumps that outlet to the two top corners. I considered this to be the minimum amount as I had tried two Quiet One 1200's which did not provide enough waterflow. I also tried two Ehiem 1260's but my six inch overflow could not keep up with pump capacity and I had to crank back the return. I did no waterchanges. The lobster ended up eating all the chromis. The tank turned a crystal clear after about month of light stocking of two fish and a lobster. I was really suprised at the disappearance of the yellowing compounds as I have never used carbon. I did add Kalkwasser on a somewhat regular basis but that was the only additive I used during the entire time.
The next stage of the system will be to add a plenum and feed it with reverse flow that comes from a oxygen deprived sump. A very light turnover rate measured in days or even weeks will keep an upwelling of water through the bed without changing the eviroment from anaerobic to aerobic periodically. I believe this will maximize the potential of the bed and see what one of these can really accomplish.
The sand bed performed as it should have and supported two or three small fish as advertised. Mike, I believe that you owe the Ronnettes a deep and sincere apology in that the sand bed works as prescribed. I would be more than happy to hand deliver it to Ron personally at the next convention that you both attend. I have in mind a sea grass display that I think will work great with this type of system.
I recently had the pleasure of moving my 120 gallon tank and 300 lbs of wet sand (where were ya Mike? I couldn't seem to get a hold of you!) When I got past the first layer I noticed pristine clean sand. This is not an exaggeration. The sand was as clean as when I put it in two years ago. It did get a milky appearance from the pariculate dust as I did not rinse it at installation. There was zero detritus and absolutely no stink. There was not even the usual "beach" smell. The "bio-balls" were entirely clean with no detritus in them at all. The sump did not have any accumulations of any kind.
The way that I designed and installed the system had erverything to do with the success. The maintainance and stocking were contrary to all reasonable or even sane practices. I aged the bed properly for about a half year. Then I aged Tonga branch coral for a few months. I then drained the tank and added fresh saltwater. I overstocked the tank with thirty chromis and a bunch of shrimps, crabs and a lobster. I fed primarily Tetra Spirulina Conditioning food in excessive quantities two or three, sometimes four or five times a day as the mood hit me. I added two sand sifting Orange Spot gobies and two Watchman gobies that immediately decimated my beautiful worm collection over the entire bed within a day. So much for diversity. I have an Aqua Medic Turbofloater protein skimmer attached directly to the display. There was a heavy accumulation of detritus on the rockwork that fed my hair algae nicely. The detritus did not accumulate in the sand and there was no cyano visible on the sand or in the system as a whole. The attached refugium was fed from the overflow and then flowed into the main display. The refugium was kept clean of algae by huge amounts of copepods and algae was only able to grow on the walls. The stability of the sand bed was kept intact by a series of eggcrate plates that formed a structure three and three-quarters of an inch deep. This kept the rockwork out of the sandbed and prevented it from being disturbed. The Tonga Branch liverock allowed a minimal footprint to increase surface exposure for the sand bed. Circulation was good but provided by only two Mag5 pumps that outlet to the two top corners. I considered this to be the minimum amount as I had tried two Quiet One 1200's which did not provide enough waterflow. I also tried two Ehiem 1260's but my six inch overflow could not keep up with pump capacity and I had to crank back the return. I did no waterchanges. The lobster ended up eating all the chromis. The tank turned a crystal clear after about month of light stocking of two fish and a lobster. I was really suprised at the disappearance of the yellowing compounds as I have never used carbon. I did add Kalkwasser on a somewhat regular basis but that was the only additive I used during the entire time.
The next stage of the system will be to add a plenum and feed it with reverse flow that comes from a oxygen deprived sump. A very light turnover rate measured in days or even weeks will keep an upwelling of water through the bed without changing the eviroment from anaerobic to aerobic periodically. I believe this will maximize the potential of the bed and see what one of these can really accomplish.
The sand bed performed as it should have and supported two or three small fish as advertised. Mike, I believe that you owe the Ronnettes a deep and sincere apology in that the sand bed works as prescribed. I would be more than happy to hand deliver it to Ron personally at the next convention that you both attend. I have in mind a sea grass display that I think will work great with this type of system.
It's about time somebody stuck up for the Ronettes.... :lol: 
