jrgilles
Well-known member
So, I have everything set up now and am going to fill my tank with water this weekend.
The setup is:
75 gallon display
50 gallon sump
20 gallon fuge.
I was planning on putting a deep sand bed, 6-8" deep in the fuge, and live rock. Then in the display tank I was going to put down some crushed coral, just enough to cover the bottom for looks, and live rock, then I was going to fill my sump with live rock.
From what I read, this seemed like a decent plan. I just spent a few hours at a friends house who has a couple of beautiful coral tanks, and he thinks a DSB in the fuge is a bad idea. I guess he has had some substrate issues in the past where the substrate actually over time becomes a nitrate trap and said it is a pain in the butt to deal with.
His tanks were all bare bottom, including his 30 gallon fuge. His fuge was just full of live rock and algae, and seemed to be doing its job well. There were tons of copepods swimming around in the algae and on the live rock (which I'm going to take a bit of to seed my tank/fuge)
What do you guys think about substrate for my tank setup? Am I better to leave out the DSB and go bare bottom, or bare bottom with a small amount of crushed coral for looks?
He showed my how easy it was to clean the bare bottom tank, by just blowing off the bottom with a power head and catching it in a filter sock on the drain line (which he would just put on the drain before cleaning, and remove immediately afterwards.)
Goes against some of the research I've read online where they say the DSB is great at removing nitrates, but he's been in the hobby a long time and has some beautiful tanks and crazy equipment, so I'm apt to take his advice and not go DSB, but would love to hear what you guys think about this...
rob
The setup is:
75 gallon display
50 gallon sump
20 gallon fuge.
I was planning on putting a deep sand bed, 6-8" deep in the fuge, and live rock. Then in the display tank I was going to put down some crushed coral, just enough to cover the bottom for looks, and live rock, then I was going to fill my sump with live rock.
From what I read, this seemed like a decent plan. I just spent a few hours at a friends house who has a couple of beautiful coral tanks, and he thinks a DSB in the fuge is a bad idea. I guess he has had some substrate issues in the past where the substrate actually over time becomes a nitrate trap and said it is a pain in the butt to deal with.
His tanks were all bare bottom, including his 30 gallon fuge. His fuge was just full of live rock and algae, and seemed to be doing its job well. There were tons of copepods swimming around in the algae and on the live rock (which I'm going to take a bit of to seed my tank/fuge)
What do you guys think about substrate for my tank setup? Am I better to leave out the DSB and go bare bottom, or bare bottom with a small amount of crushed coral for looks?
He showed my how easy it was to clean the bare bottom tank, by just blowing off the bottom with a power head and catching it in a filter sock on the drain line (which he would just put on the drain before cleaning, and remove immediately afterwards.)
Goes against some of the research I've read online where they say the DSB is great at removing nitrates, but he's been in the hobby a long time and has some beautiful tanks and crazy equipment, so I'm apt to take his advice and not go DSB, but would love to hear what you guys think about this...
rob
