To Dsb Or Not To Dsb

[shamous113]

I'm torn, all of my salt water experience is 1-2" deep sand bed and I'm having a tough time deciding whither to stick to it or to go either a 6" DSB or a 4" deep with plenum. oh the choices the choices. I'm setting up a 150 gal display with a 115 gal basement sump, and I'm in the final stages of gathering the necessary supplies before my build and would appreciate any input and or opinions.

Thanks.

 

[Skim]

You may want to read this.

www.advancedaquarist.com › Volume I › September 2002

 

[shamous113]

@Skim Thanks for the great read. how have you set up your tank? I'm starting to think that I'll do this in my sump because the 115 that I have is 72x24.

 

[Skim]

Man its like 6 one way half a dozen the other. I never had a Salt tank with a Plenum, believe it not I had a 35 gal Planted tank that I had a Undergravel filter in it that I end up shutting down and left the plate with the pipes on sticking up in the corners. I had planted tanks before but I never had growth like that in any other tank, it was unbelievable. When I had to tear it down because we moved the Roots had grown through the slits in the plates and were thriving in this sludge on the bottom and Plant growth was so ferocious my fish would get stuck trying to swim. How it would perform for a Reef Tank I do not have any personal experience with it but have read of some that had great success and some not so good. I believe you have to decide on what type of Tank you want to set up. If you want SPS dominant, then I would go with a SeaFlor Special from CaribSea because of the current required in the Display it will not be blown around like the Sugar sand would be and if you want a DSB with Special minimum and I meen minimum 6" of it because of the Coarser size. I have a DSB in my tank now but over the years it has dropped from dissolving and now I am debating on adding a DSB in the Sump of 6" Sugar sand as I have found Nitrates are becoming harder to deal with since the drop in depth over the years. Some tend to believe it is what they call Old Tank Syndrome but I believe it has more to do with the Depth of the sand and how it is reduced over the years. If I was starting from scratch again I think I would take a good long look at the Mike Paletta method, his tanks have always be amazing and it seems to work very well for him. Google him and check at YouTube also, that should keep you busy for a while. I don't know if this is any help but good luck!

 

[shamous113]

Thanks for the input, I've had the same experience with a plenum in a 130gal fresh water tank too, I had to add co2 and iron to keep up with the growth. The more I've read about DSB the more I think the "old tank syndrome" is caused by the DSB getting below the critical depth of 6" as it breaks down. part of the dsb maintenance that seems to be overlooked is adding material to keep the minimum depth of 6".