How deep?Problems with?

I keep seeing that people have very deepsand beds. When I bought my tank the owner of the store told me to go just deep enough to cover the tank. I have a constant diatom issue even though I have overcome algea I still have this? Is my sandbed to shallow? could it be contributing to the algea outbreak that took months to control? there are places that are so shallow you can see glass others migh be just over an inch. The sand I used was live fiji pink. Thanks again.

 

i have 1 lb per 5 gallons. the problem with deep sand beds is they are good for along time and help alot, kinda like a nutrient sink(it removes some but alot of stuff is left). but after years it will fill up and overflow, and you will be lucky if your tank doesn't crash.
with a shallow sand bed its not deep enough for nutrients to really build up. you lose some advantages of a sand bed but you also lose the disadvantages.

 

well, with that said then...how deep is exactly a deep sand bed?

 

its been awhile since i look this stuff up but i remember a dsb is around 6 inches
and a ss is less then 2(i prefer 1). with two you have to have alot more creatures moving your sand

and i don't remember why but you don't want a Sandbed between 2-5 inches. i think at that depth you lose the some of the advantages of dsb and keep all the problems.

 

The deep sandbed ticking time bomb analogy is out the window. Yes it is a nutrient "sink" BUT the flora and fauna do a GREAT job of slowly breaking it down, a well established properly maintained sand bed WILL NOT release nutrients or hydrogen sulfide as earlier thought esp by the bare bottom European pioneers claim. Actually the opposite is proven, bare bottom tanks have fared poorly(typically, there is always exceptions.) The main issue w/ deep sandbeds is many people thought and PROMOTED the idea of stirring the bed and getting various sand sifting organisms. THIS IS ACTUALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO AVOID!!! The sandsifting organisms eat the small critters and microbes that do the actual breaking down of the nutrients. The best thing to do is "let the sand be lay", leave it alone and don't pack all these sand sifters in there.
The algae issues are probably just linked to the nutrient levels, what are they?
How often do you change water and water %?
How often do you clean/change the filter media?

Let us know so we can further "dig into" the sand bed issue!

 

Deep sand bed is 5"+, really any less than that and you loose the area that is devoid of oxygen
This is where the bacteria that convert nitrates to nitrogen gas live.

There are no real benefits with sand from 0-5" other than looks. IMO

If you want the benefits of a deep sand bed without having it in your display, look up RDSB (remote deep sand bed) these have all the benefits without the drawbacks

 

do you have any links for DSB, being successfully mantained. im very interested when i looked this stuff up years ago most would crash after years. or people maintain them buy having the DSB in a seperate tank and after a year or two they would disconnect it and replace all the sand.

 

Same thing.....but I do have sand sifting starfish also.

 

I will grab you some links as well as some articles as well, but in the mean time, I just took down my 75 that had a refugium w/ a dsb and a plenum that was setup 2 plus years, and while it isn't all that long, the bed was in great shape, no odor and VERY LITTLE organic wastes at all. Essentially IME it was a THRIVING sand bed.