[Ajmags13]

I was always afraid of the reef Aquarium. As beautiful as they looked my assumption was that they would be difficult and that I needed more experience. Now after 20 years of keeping Fish only and freshwater Africans I think Im ready to go for it.

I have done a ton of research on the subject for years now and I have come up with this set up. The key is can I get it all set up before my wife kills me because of the mess in my living room .

I started by building a Refugium out of a 30 gallon oceanic aquarium. It has 3 sections one that has my Skimmer (turbo Flotor 1000) and my UV strilizer. The center portion will be the mud some pieces of live rock and whatever type of macro algae is available. Heard much about mangrove but I have not seen any for sale so Ill wait on that I guess i can always add it later.

The biggest question I have is the live sand. I do not like the bare bottom reef tank look and I have heard so many different ideas on how to proceed with the sand that is creating a stoping point for me. Hence why my wife is gonna kill me while I have all the equiptment but have not set up the tank as of yet. The tank Im using is a 90 gallon and Im not sure how deep to go with the sand. Now the questions get deeper. I know that low oxygen levels in certain filters can promote the bacteria that feeds on Nitrates so my question is if I build a deep sand bed the lower levels of that bed will have lower oxygen levels . IS this correct ? Will this also work at defeating the nitrate problems ? Some friends i have at the fish store say they have tanks going with 0 nitrates of very minimal and the tank is almost maintenance free and much easier than running a fish only tank. If this is true thats great but im not buying it for a second. I need to hear more voices on this theory . I know the refugium plays a big part in keeping nitrate levels to a minimum but is it enough to only have to top the tank off once or twice a week with very minimal water changes ?

Well back to my main questions How deep on the sand bed?

Is little to no water changes possible in a system like this ?

Is a UV sterilizer going to hurt certain aspects of a reef system ?

Thanks for reading I can get long winded at times so I cut this way short heh.

[Reefland]

Hi Ajmags13,

I know that low oxygen levels in certain filters can promote the bacteria that feeds on Nitrates so my question is if I build a deep sand bed the lower levels of that bed will have lower oxygen levels . IS this correct ?

That is correct. Most say that this will be acheived at a depth of 3.5"+.

Will this also work at defeating the nitrate problems ?

It can absolutely be a benefit, but cannot be relied upon soley.

I know the refugium plays a big part in keeping nitrate levels to a minimum but is it enough to only have to top the tank off once or twice a week with very minimal water changes ?

In my opinion, no. You need to perform weekly water changes (regardless of what your system equipment and gadgets consist of), run a skimmer that is cleaned often and with a watchful eye on how much you feed and system bioload.