sand bed chemistry

[volivier]

I don't want to start the debate of bare vs sand bottom tanks.

I'm wondering if having a bare bottom tank for sps is the best way to go. I know the sand helps w/nitrates, any other reasons why the sandbed is helpful for a sps tank?

I probably haven't worded my question well, but if you get the idea, any opinions would be great.

 

[Curtswearing]

Valerie,

Sandbeds can help with Nitrates. However, there are potential phosphorus issues later on in the sandbeds life that will eventually need to be addressed.

However, a DSB is not required to lower nitrates. My old 200g SPS prop tank had low nitrates all the time as well.

There's two ways of handling them. Remove the waste before it breaks down in the system like a well setup BB tank. Or sink the waste in the DSB temporarily.

There's pro's and con's to any method of filtration. Decide what you like and then find the best way to properly maintain that method.

 

[volivier]

my setup

I'm trying to research this issue and decide which method is easier for me to maintain. I've seen the italy's best tanks and see sand, then again i see the march tank of the month (reefcentral) bare bottom...LOL Guess it depends on the individuals maintenance, that is why i'm asking the question I guess. What makes the dsb work for one person and what does the bare bottom tank person do differently?

I have a diy refugium with some "mud" in it and live sand too, also macro algae. 135 gal. 3 400W 12k reeflux w/2 72" actinic VHO bulbs, euroreef cs-2plus skimmer, chiller, uv 25IL, RO water, 3 seio620, 1 820 seio, 2 2600 Seio

 

[Curtswearing]

Guess it depends on the individuals maintenance, that is why i'm asking the question I guess. What makes the dsb work for one person and what does the bare bottom tank person do differently?

Your tank maintenance is exactly what sinks your tank or allows it to thrive. Even having good flow in a BB tank, there will still be somewhere in the tank where detritus will accumulate. Siphon that small amount of detritus for 30 seconds a couple of times per week and you're good to go.

If you want a succesful SPS tank with a DSB, you still want good flow. You need it to feed the SPS corals and to allow them to slough off slime and you also want prevent as much detritus from settling in the DSB as possible. However, you don't have to siphon weekly. Eventually though, if you don't have good enough flow, your DSB will fill up and start spitting phosphates into the tank. DSB's can give one a false sense of security and that's something you want to watch for. You think that because you're not seeing high nitrates, everything is cool. That's not necessarily true.

 

[volivier]

was there any particular thing/article that made you decide on BB?

 

[MikeS]

I opted to try a BB in my reef for 2 reasons....#1 18 months ago I had to move my reef tank quickly and somewhat unexpectedly, which made BB the easiest option when I set the tank back up and #2 my sandbed was 5 years old and had pretty much reached the end of its effective lifespan, so I thought I'd give BB a try. There was no particular article that happened to make me choose BB...just a lot of "encouragement" (read *razzing* :lol: ) from Mojo Mike and Nikki here at RF:lol: Origionally I had planned on a DSB with passive plenum designed to allow periodic manual wasting of accumulated gunk...

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5476

MikeS

 

[volivier]

have you seen the italy's best sps tanks on reefcentral? Do you think their success with the papone mixture they feed would work bb?

 

[Curtswearing]

I've not read the threads but it doesn't really matter. A lot of people think that photosynthesis provides 100% of the food needs of SPS corals and it's not true.

All corals have a daily Carbon and Nitrogen budget that they need to meet and what photosynthesis doesn't provide, they get it through a combination of bacterioplankton, dissolved organic materials, particulate organic materials, zooplankton, etc. In essence, they need to eat additional sources of food.

Any method of feeding will work....just mirror what happens on a reef. Feed 'em, remove the excess, and don't allow it to rot in the system. Most SPS live in oligotrophic conditions in the wild and we should do our best to simulate their natural environment.

 

[MikeS]

have you seen the italy's best sps tanks on reefcentral? Do you think their success with the papone mixture they feed would work bb?

As long as the mechanical export of said nutrients is adequate, IMO a BB setup is actually more ideally set up for a high bioload system than many other methods.

MikeS