[zhenya]

Hi Chuck,

I was looking at some old pictures of your tank that I had saved on my hard drive and noticed just how large and close to each other your colonies were. Have you given any thoughts as to perhaps a competition could've been at play as well? I understand that you feel that your sand was to blame and hence you tore it down.On the phosphate issue... when you tested the water column itself,were readings high as well?I'm just curious if they were binded/chelated in the sand bed or leaching PO4 out in the water column. I have noticed in my 75g tank that the population of pods had diminished(alot) but I still have lots of worms of different types in the sand bed. I did some recharging with couple of new detrivore kits but not sure if this will help,time will tell I guess

Originally Posted by MtnDewMan

At this point I am starting anew, so consider myself a newbie again

Well...I'm not so sure I agree with this statement

[SPasse]

Hi All,

Well I have defiantly not ready to throw in the towel on DSBs.

Mtn. Dew’s statement "Mainly because there was very little activity happening in my bed. no worm population, or pods in the bed that I could tell." is to me, a self evident statement of why his DSB failed.

A “dead” DSB will absolutely become a nutrient sink/time bomb.

If you are not prepared to set up a DSP using the proper particle size mix, seed it appropriately, feed it and care for it, you probably are better off with a bare bottomed tank.

But I am still convinced that when properly set up and cared for, they can be a tremendous asset to many kinds of reef tank setups.

Regards,

Scott

[Elmo18]

Originally Posted by SPASSE

Hi All,

Well I have defiantly not ready to throw in the towel on DSBs.

Mtn. Dew’s statement "Mainly because there was very little activity happening in my bed. no worm population, or pods in the bed that I could tell." is to me, a self evident statement of why his DSB failed.

A “dead” DSB will absolutely become a nutrient sink/time bomb.

If you are not prepared to set up a DSP using the proper particle size mix, seed it appropriately, feed it and care for it, you probably are better off with a bare bottomed tank.

But I am still convinced that when properly set up and cared for, they can be a tremendous asset to many kinds of reef tank setups.

Regards,

Scott

I am also still a believer! However, for experimentation purposes, im setting up a new 29 gallon barebottomed tank.

Nice to see ya back Scott!

- Elmo

[MtnDewMan]

I agree, without life in the bed, it can become inactive. I did seed it at least once a year and still no life. I had plenty of pods and worms in the rocks, in the sump, not the main display sandbed.

I completely agree that a sandbed will work if it is performing as designed, it can work for a while, eventually it will get saturated, even with critters. So that will prolong the life for sure.

[SPasse]

MntDewMan,

“…eventually it will get saturated, even with critters.”

Ok., that is the point of contention.

In a system with a “reasonable” fish load, “eventually” should be many years, perhaps not at all.

DSB proponents believe that a fully functioning sand bed is capable of reducing detritus to elements that are reincorporated. I.e a more or less complete nutrient recycling process can take place. Dr. Ron is convinced, that given a reasonable fish load, and attention to minimizing heavy metal accumulation, that a DSB should run almost indefinitely.

Regards,

Scott