Sand Bed Depth

What is the best depth for a DT Sand Bed? Mine is around 3 inches maybe a little more.

 

thats ok no more IMO
mine is 2 - 2.5"

That is if it is a pure sand bed

 

There is no best.. I posted these pictures a while back but here is basically how the different sand beds work. The goal of a sandbed or not having a sandbed is the reduction of waste in our tanks

Most people don't understand how BB/SSB/DSB all works. OR that there are actual advantages and disadvantages to each set up. It's not about right wrong, or that there is no difference. It's just a difference of approach that has a common goal.

A BB, allows for easy cleaning and you depend on your mechanical filtration (sponges, filter socks, skimmer etc) to remove the detritus and build up from your system. You use very high amounts of flow to keep and debris in the water column to be removed by one of the aforementioned methods.

A SSB (your bed) Works as follows 1.5" - about 3"


And a DSB works like this: 5"-8"


Now there are a lot of differences in how we utilize a DSB in aquariums. (remote dsb, DSB in a bucket, refugium DSB or DSB in a display.)

Where people tend to screw up is thinking that only one way works. They all work, just in different ways and with slightly different types of maintenance.

 

I would suggest getting rid of a little substrate or adding some, there are more potential problems in lying in no man's land than there are settled directly in one or the other. If you want a DSB make sure you get a cup of sand from an established DSB or find a detrivore pack to seed the bed.

 

At the deepest point it's close to 3 not 3 inches though. Longest point is about an 1.5. I don't like straight one flat sand bed. Back is mounded higher.

Thanks for the info. The drawings are awesome.

 

Then you should be fine with what you have, I would suggest looking into some sand sifting snails such as nassarious and maybe a sand sifting star or goby to keep it turned over.

 

+1 to above. Grim posted some great info about sandbeds.

I like a shallow sand bed. Mine is 1.5 - 2" max., but some places are lower.

 

Sand beds should be one inch or less or four inches or more. Unless they're in between.

Jeff


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- Text mangled by iPhone spell check...

 

LOL, that's awesome, I like that

The dsb logic is a bit flawed really. It assumed that the primary means of denitrification, in our systems was obligate anaerobic bacteria (that is anerobic bacteria that is killed by oxygen). However, there is a lot of evidence that actually the primary denitrifying bacteria in our systems is instead facultative anaerobic bacteria (that is aerobic bacteria that can use nitrate as an electron acceptor if oxygen is low). This is good because facultative anaerobic bacteria can survive anywhere regardless of O2 and it does not tend to result in H2S production, which is a the fear of DSBs.

facultative anaerobic bacteria just needs surface area to function. All surfaces are composed of biofilms and a 3 dimensional matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). This EPS matrix serves as a sort of a microbe hotel where different microbes live at different levels and share resources. If it extends down into rocks, or into the sand, just a little bit, this can lower O2 sufficiently for facultative anaerobes to start processing nitrate instead of O2.

So, there is no reason to believe that you need a DSB for denitrification. A DSB will provide a better habitat for certain organisms though. These can be interesting to watch, but denitrification is not a major consideration, it should happen with or without a DSB.

 

I prefer to keep a DSB in my fuge and a shallow one in my tank. Of course my fuge consists of kitty litter with live sand on top--but I prefer my DT to be shallower (more room for rock, water, livestock, etc).