Live/dead sand help. Fauna? Ecosystem construction

OK after reading this months CORAL magazine Ecosustem Construction article i believe i may have a tank full of Sand that no longer has anything living in it.

The article said sometimes ppl have to "replenish" you sand bed infauna.....???

Has anyone every heard of this?

I believe that after i had a power outage for 3 days my sand might of died off....
Not to mention i have a pistol shrimp and the article states sand sifters hinder healthy bacteria growth in your sand bed.

can anyone shed some light on this.... i found the article extremely interesting.

 

I have read several articles stating sand beds do go bad. You end up having to remove the sand and replacing it. I have never had any personal experience with this but I believe there are people here who have. This is why I did NOT put a DSB in my system. An inch deep. Just enough for looks.

 

ya not to mention the pistol shrimp that stacks my sand 4-6 inches in the back of the tank

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

this is one of the websites the article gives to order from to replenish your live sand.

 

Baby BristleWorms™
Most experienced reefkeepers strongly believe in the beneficial effects of bristle worms on the sand bed. We hold the view that bristle worms and other sand bed scavengers are vitally important components of reef ecosystems, both captive and wild. Our Baby Bristle Worms package comes with 6 fine young specimens, all about 0.5 - 1.0 inches in length. Our clams and corals are grown in commercial mariculture tanks in close proximity with literally thousands of happily breeding bristleworms. Simply put, bristleworms are to reef tanks what earthworms are to gardens. Bristle worms constantly stir the reef tank sand bed and help keep it aerobic. They consume uneaten fish food and fish waste, preventing dead and decaying organic matter from accumulating on top of the sand bed. Baby Bristle Worms will mature rapidly and reproduce to levels that are consistent with the available resources (food and space) in your reef tank. 100% Captive-Bred.

 

First they tell you that sand sifting creatures are bad for the SB then they want to sell you some?? Heres a good link on Sb's.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/sand/bb-vs-dsb-34593.html
There are many people today who have flourishing tanks with no SB at all. In the early days of reefkeeping Nitrate and Phosphate export were primitive to non existent.Therefore we used dsb's to help lower these polutants. IMO DSB'S are more harmfull then helpfull. As far as micro fauna. If you have sand sifting creatures feeding on it I could see it being usefull to replenish it.However all you really need is something to stir up small sections of the sand at a time to keep the sand from compacting and help clean detritus to have a healthy sand bed. The use of Nassarius snails (or some other burrowing creatures)is a great way to accomplish this.So I guess the answer would be yes you could purchase bristle worms to accomplish it.Anything disturbing your sand bed technically hinders bacterial growth but you don't have enough nitrification going on anyway in your SB to remove Nitrates in the ammounts that are produced so thats why we have skimmers ,gfo,carbon,and sometimes BP'S.

 

ok so in my case I have a 4inch sand bed throughout my tank.... In some cases its higher and lower...

I have a pistol shrimp who is a bulldozer and rearranges my sand bed daily

I cant seem to get my nitrates and phosphates to zero...

I have done almost complete water changes and upgraded my skimmer but still i seem to have nitrates and phosphates.

What could be this cause... too much sand... and in return i would have to get rid of the pistol shrimp....

I think my sand bed is more hurtful then helpful.....

What should the next step be Thanks for the help

 

I highly doubt it is your Pistol shrimp. Stirring up the sand can cause a release of nutrients but in small amounts it will be fine. Skimming alone with Water changes is sometimes not enough. How often do you feed? How many Fish/Inverts do you have?What size tank? Are you using any kind of reactors for GFO?Carbon? You never want to replace more then 40 percent of your water at one time. You are not going to get rid of Phosphates and Nitrates overnight and changing that much water at once will do more harm then good.

 

thanks for the input..

I dont have any reactors.... i use carbon in a bag thats placed in my sump.

I feed twice a day morning and at night. I think ill cut that down

I have concern that i dont see any life in my sand bed.

Do you think i should remove some of the sand bed

 

any more input

 

Disturbing the existing SB is risky and I probably wouldn't. If you want something good to stir it gently I would use snails. Nassarius snails are great and so is the Strawberry Conch or Blood Mouthed Conch, Strombus (Conomurex) luhuanus. Also sometimes referred to as the tiger conch. Using carbon in a bag in a filter is a waste of time IMO. Using a reactor is much more efficient and if you hope to get your Phosphates down a GFO reactor will help alot. Bulk Reef supply has good cheap reactor's I love them.