DSB in Freshwater?

[The Coral Reef Guy]

I know this is a little off the forum subject but knew that the answer was here nonetheless.. Does the DSB philosophy apply to freshwater aquariums as well? I am considering setting up a freshwater planted aquarium for my 5 yr old daughter.. and wondered if the DSB would be a good thing or not? any input?

TIA
Shawn


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[Mikeman]

Well it would certanly help with the plants if you have a deep sand bed, like I said the thekrib.com has all the info you need [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

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Mikeman

"When I was lost as a baby 2 clownfish found me and raised me in an anenome, I still can't keep them"

[MarkS]

I do not think it will work the same. The reason it works in a marine environment is due to the various species of fauna in the sand. I do not think anything simular exists in a fresh water environment.

Mark

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Sicks munce Ago
I coodn't evin
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[Nanook01]

Fluorite is probably the BEST substrate for the FW planted tank. You can make a 3-4 inch layer of fluorite and plant your plants right in it. You can find it from several of the online suppliers. Check out Aqualink or one of the other FW boards for more information on planted tanks. I am doing a 58g planted tank in the near future and I found most of my info on the Krib and wetwebmedia. HTH

nanook

[SPasse]

Shawn,

Fresh water plant tanks were my alternate addiction.

These were systems that used 3 to 4” of fluorite, CO2 fertilization, and MH lighting.

But I never tried say a 6” deep sand, fluorite, or sand-fluorite mix to try to achieve the nitrate and detritus processing capabilities of a marine DSB.

As far as the flora “infauna” well, I would actually be surprised if a similar freshwater community did not exist in environments, such as say the amazon river basin.

Freshwater detrivore and live mud kits?

I plan on experimenting with this after my upcoming move.

Regards,

Scott

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The definition of an expert is a washed-up drip under pressure.
You can see my reeftank at http://www.homestead.com/spasse/

[hcp28]

actually it is interesting you brought this up I asked a biologist about this on fishgeeks.com a few months ago and he said the denitrification properties of a marine DSB and a freshwater DSB would not work the same. He said that we could not achieve the volume it would take to imitate this state in nauture in our tanks and that the best de-nitrifier for a freshwater system is plants as has always been the case. I think he said that nature solves the problems of nitrates and such in freshwater by just dumping it into the ocean where it can be broken down, well that in so many words of course. Don't take this word for word it's been a while. HTH

Henry

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