Converting wet dry's first chamber into dsb?

The first chamber has a 6x10" surface area, is this enough to be worth it?

 

I have never seen any type of statement that ties DSB area to how much it can reduce nitrates. Not too sure how much that would do in relation to your tank.

The bigger problem is the first chamber has tons of flow and turbulence and keeping the sand bed there may be hard to do.

 

I've got the return pump turned way down to maximize contact time, and it's drilled from the side (sealife systems) so it just flows across the top.

 

So how big is your tank? If you minimize flow through it as much as you can, it sounds like it will work. I assume you have a skimmer on the other side?

So here is the thing with flow.... too much and you might disturb the bed... too little and you will not feed enough to your skimmer. Not the worst thing, cause the skimmer will just sit there and recirc the skimmer compartment.... but if you want pods from the DSB and possible fuge.... then the skimmer will most probably skim out all pods in a recirc mode. Just keep those things in mind and give it a go.

 

A functional DSB requires a nice flow across its surface. I'm not sure reducing the flow will be beneficial.

 

Ok, I'll turn up the flow. Can someone explain to me exactly how a dsb works? I was thinking debris would settle on the sand bed and get pulled down by the negative force of the dsb.
There is a skimmer on the other side and yes I do want pods so will get it out of recirc mode.

 

Honestly, I forget the particulars of a DSB. It's been a long time since I've visited the subject and others may be more up-to-date on the topic.

 

It was something like above the surface has a positive charge and then as you go deeper into the sand it becomes more negative pulling the nitrates down to where the anerobic bacteria converts it.