Lets talk about ~Aquarium Husbandry~

[jks1]

just curious how much folks use filter socks- my tank is 8 weeks old so I have mine on 24/7, changing every few days. Good idea/Bad?

 

[Curtswearing]

I think it's a good idea since you are changing it frequently. If you left it in for weeks on end, I would think it would be a bad idea.

Speaking of husbandry, this is what you get in a one-micron filter sock when you stop your normal maintenance for four straight months due to tax season.

 

[RockyHeap]

I'm surprised people are running mechanical filter media in a reef tank at all........too many filter feeders, corals, and other critters like sponges that need this fine food.

 

[mojoreef]

Ok lets open this up to other systems of filtration. lets jump onto DSB's to. All you dsb folks come and tell us the husbandry behind your system.


Mike

 

[Curtswearing]

That pic is a little misleading. One-micron filter socks are like thick felt and water has a difficult time flowing through it. It cannot be left in a sump for too long or it will overflow. It is designed to polish the water. All of that detritus was siphoned out of the very top level of my DSB and also turkey basted off of the rocks.

One of corals favorite particulate foods is fish poop. But that's just a very small portion of their food intake as most of their food needs come from other sources. Fish poop is like a concentrated multivitamin. They use what they need and spit out the rest (estimated ~90% waste). The very concentrated nature of fish poop and other detritus means it's not good to stay long in the fish tank. It will be broken down by bacteria into it's components like Nitrogen, Phosphates, and turn into dissolved organic compounds.

I utilize skimming, mechanical filtration, chemical filtration (carbon at least 24 hours per week), to remove as much detritus and DOC's possible. (It was just a bad tax season and I didn't do my turkey basting or siphoning for a while).

I personally think that it would be quite a challenge to take away too many nutrients out of a system.

However, to get back to the topic at hand......if anyone else uses mechanical filtration, how often do you clean the filters?

 

[Curtswearing]

Oops, I hadn't finished my post before I saw yours Mike.

To extend the life of my DSB, I normally siphon out the top layer to remove detritus before it is allowed to sink further. Sometimes, I don't siphon....I just make a royal mess in it with my hand immediately prior to a waterchange. Some of the mess I make when I do it this way lands on the rock so I will turkey baste that away and capture that with mechanical filtration. I had been using 100 micron filter socks but THERE'S NO COMPARISON to a one-micron sock (thanks BTW) when doing monthly maintenance.

FYI....I think people might be interested in this little tidbit. Since I didn't do my normal monthly maintenance for 4 months, I was expected the gunk to be 4 times worse than normal. It wasn't 4 times worse than normal.....the waste apparently grew exponentially. I was SHOCKED!!! to say the least at how much extra detritus built up. Letting my maintenance go for 4 months was clearly stupid on my part and I have been paying the price for my laziness. I'm having to work a lot harder now than the combined monthly time I would have expended then. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm.....Curt - do you replace your detrivores as part of your husbandry?

 

[Curtswearing]

I have tons of worm tracks but have never once found a worm in my bucket after siphoning. They must run for cover when they see me coming.

 

[Witfull]

i just had this vision of "Dune"...worm sign,,and them running through the sand.

 

[Ray Pollett]

I've been considering the bare bottom but I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the look issues. I like the sand. Is the maintenance easier with bare bottom?

In My opinion, no the maintenance is not easier with the bare bottom as opose to DSB.

But you should know, Even thoyght my tanks do great, I do a lot of things different than the norm.

Ray

 

[Ray Pollett]

Ok lets open this up to other systems of filtration. lets jump onto DSB's to. All you dsb folks come and tell us the husbandry behind your system.


Mike

I do water changes (varies by tank - some every week, some every other week, some once every 4 weeks) and change filter media every 4 to 6 weeks. I weed the algaes I grow.

Ray

 

[Ray Pollett]

However, to get back to the topic at hand......if anyone else uses mechanical filtration, how often do you clean the filters?

On most tanks I change them every 4 weeks. I have one that goes 6 weeks ( has a lot of algaes that I weed). Have one that I change every 2 weeks ( One of the few tanks still with a skimmer) and the tank with cyno.

I rotate the changing as the tanks usually have two filters. That means on the tanks were the media is changed every 4 weeks in each filter. One is changed this week. In two weeks I change the media in the other one on the same tank.

Ray

 

[Ray Pollett]

I do no maintenance to the DSB. I do on ocassions add more detrivores. Usually from other tanks to keep up the diversity. What I've seen is one or two types will grow in numbers and the others will decrease. In some tanks it seems to rotate as to which one (cycles). If I think one type, say bristle worms are low I'll move a piece of LR with them from a tank were they are numberous. I never touch the sand, no vaccuming, No adding, No squirting with basers. I do not even do my yearly hurricanes on tanks anymore.

Ray

 

[mojoreef]

Ray what do you concider detroviors for the dsb. Most so called experts are talking about replenishing stuff , like worms of several types, pods, and othe such things. Is that what you are saying??


Mike

 

[Frankie]

whats a dsb please? im new to the lingo and would like to know this answer. I have a custom mud/fluidized filter i built that Mike saw and liked. and yes Mike i did add the bio balls and will post how it dose in a few months. If i see an adverse change there gonna come out though. but im always willing to learn! as long as my water quality stays high i'll be a happy reefer.

 

[Scooterman]

"DSB" Deep Sand Bed!

 

[Frankie]

Ah! thank you Scooterman. lol

 

[Ray Pollett]

Ray what do you concider detroviors for the dsb. Most so called experts are talking about replenishing stuff , like worms of several types, pods, and othe such things. Is that what you are saying??


Mike

Yes,all the different worms, and pods.

Ray

 

[Ray Pollett]

I should say if you look in my filters on the carbon cartridges you will see a ton of pods, mostly gramma shrimp. They multiply there pretty safe from preditors. Every time you change the cartridge you have to brush them off and make sure thyey get back into the filter and tank. Most people would be very surprised at how clean the cartridges look after 4 weeks; even with the heavy feeding I do.

Ray

 

[Scooterman]

DSB, in my adventures I don't regret having a DSB excluding the cost. I had a 4 to 6 inch DSB in my 100g tank & a 3" DSB in my first 30g tank. I've seen some interesting things going on there that gave me a Deep interest in them. In my 30g tank I had problems, mostly with stability & water quality. I was obedient to my LFS at first, loosing fish & not really understanding why. One of my biggest problems was water changes, you see in a smaller tank, a spike would be detrimental to fish & live stock, it didn't take much. I would do monthly water changes but that wasn't enough, for the fish I had required more frequent changes, I had that 3" DSB, Aqua Medic skimmer & a penguin hang filter with the floss & carbon pack. I had a 40w light and about 45lbs of LR. I was able to keep certain fish regardless of the spikes but also lost some nice fish. I was at my end I couldn't keep loosing fish etc. like this, I just hate it because I knew I would have to quit because it just isn't humane. One day at work I hit up on forums, I never had the desire to become a member & become a part of an online group, but this is where my life as an aquarist has changed. I reverted back to a simple system, with only the few fish I had (Green Chromis) & a coral bandit. I hit the online forums hard as work allowed, during lunch etc. I learned so much the first year, It made me want to go hit someone at the LFS lol, but I knew better. My husbandry skills were bad, not because I was lazy but more so I just didn't know. It was about then a new LFS opened up, only salt water, this guy was really great, alone with the information I've learned online & from him I went on to the next step, he got me the 100g tank I have now. I couldn't believe what I was doing, I still haven't been successful to date but yet going in deep. I was learning reef chemistry & husbandry, DSB's were very hot so I was neck deep into them, although my original plan was a thin bed. Although I was online for some time now, I really wasn't familiar with who's who & in some ways was miss lead at times, finding guys like Mike opened up the reality of the whole thing, but unfortunately it was way later before that had happened. Ok, In January I finally got my new tank, I had planned my filtration out using a DSB, skimmer, LR & not much more. I had ordered lights & most of the necessary equipment before even getting the tank, I was pushing the limits of the hood and the length of the VHO's but I wanted the longest I could fit inside, at the time MH was considered but I didn't think it was that important, I was headed towards a fish & softy reef set-up, incorporating the DSB. Finally I had it going, the DSB was in place, I had it seeded from my little tank & ordered a few kits to diversify. I was in heavy reading on DSB's, I had a nice looking tank, it was coming along rather well for a beginner, I didn't have it loaded down heavy because I still was learning & was trying to provide the best home possible. In the beginning I everything went well but after about 6 months I kept going through algae break outs, at times it would get bad, & reading my eyes off. Here I was learning about husbandry, I had to learn somehow to keep the self sustaining system working properly. One thing was water changes, I needed to learn how much was required for my system & if I ever added more, I would have to adjust accordingly. This wasn't an easy cut and dry task, I had to experiment wait to see what happened, If I changed enough water at one time or would I have to do larger volume changes all at once & also how often would this be necessary, it has gotten better but to date it still is an ongoing learning & tweaking ( I love Tweaking), it is necessary. In a DSB you needed circulation, you can't go crazy over the sand because it would blow sand everywhere but you needed to keep the waste spread out over the sand surface so the waste can be captured in the DSB processing system. This is also another learning process necessary to tweak, trial and error. How do you ever get good flow through the tank, suspend what waste you can so the skimmer can pick it up & the rest can be processed by the DSB. I had squids, several pumps, PH water everywhere & still trying not to blow up a sand storm. I also had bouts with critters, mainly snails, hermits etc, seems like they won't necessary all get along in a small glass cage either, this takes a well balance to fit into your particular system. Again fighting algae problems, I continued hitting forums, after a while it was all blowing up, heated discussions everywhere I looked, seems like thousands of people suddenly had the same occurring problems. It was about this time, again I hit another level of learning, we got into deep discussions of DSB's, husbandry, feeding the tank, food sources, it was getting very difficult for someone like me, with no experience but I kept reading, I couldn't offer much of help or input but I kept reading throwing in a joke every now and then to let everyone I was there. I spent a year discussing DSB's before I've realized it was already time for a change, I also found a group of people that really had a passion for this hobby, actually it is more than a hobby, it is a life style, it is embedded into these people, I'm grateful for their dedication & willingness to share their experience with everyone. This continues to the next chapter, so I'll stop on the DSB & husbandry, it is still an ongoing process ever evolving but this is also part of what makes this so wonderful, DSB's have come a long way, husbandry also has come into it as being very important part of any reef system, each a little different but equally important, this was my experience with DSB's even though it was rather short period, is was a great learning process.