new to the forum

Personally, no I haven't. This topic in particular has been debated for quite a while.

Is this a concern I have? Most definitely, especially with the amounts I have been feeding. My dsb could very well be a time bomb that will go off one day and crash my tank. I have not been informed of any actual fact that would suggest this to be 100% guaranteed. There is definitely a possibility, I will not deny that.

As with everything else in this hobby, it will require appropriate maintenance for long term success. In my opinion everything inside our tanks can become lethal if the proper care is not administered.

On another note, I have not kept a sandbed long enough to know if this will happen one day or not. The longest I have kept one system with a dsb was 4 years. I do take some precautions to try and help the dsb from becoming toxic. I make sure to have a nice variety of snails that will help by keeping it stirred up and by consuming detritus. This may not be enough to prevent the sandbed from becoming "sour" though. I do believe another way to help combat this issue is to randomly pick a small area to siphon out the particles that have been trapped inside the sandbed. To tell you the truth, in my situation all these measures may not even be necessary. The reason I say that is because this tank in particular is not really intended to be used long term. Eventually it will be upgraded to a larger system, probably sooner than later given the size of this particular tank.

Why would I take the risk being informed of the possibility? There was no room in this design for a sump where other nutrient removal methods could be utilized. And I have always known that this was not a long term tank. Will I use a dsb when I upgrade? Probably not, because the system which I will be upgrading to is already built. Its actually a barebottom at the time being. This system that will eventually be the upgrade was designed with several other methods of nutrient export and the dsb wouldn't be remotely necessary.

 

Well, what you are doing is obviously working and I appreciate hearing your experience with it.

 

welcome man, tank looks great.

what works for one doesn't work for all.. i def don't do things by the books