What is the optimal sand bed depth for reef tanks?

[reddhaus]

Just looking for opinions about optimal sand bed depth. This could be your current depth or just your opinion on what is the best.

[dagnir]

Im currently running 3.5 in. in my tank, but optimal depth is very subjective. For me it all depends on personal preferance. I dont believe there is a true optimal depth because many successful tanks have been run with no sand or sand beds that are 12 in. deep or more. I have taken Tullock's "Less Technology, More Biology" to heart and that is how I want to run my systems. I like a thick sand bed with the appropriate creatures to maintain it. But many people have different methods for success. I personally would run anywhere from 3 to 10 inch sand beds, depending on the look I want and what kind of system I am trying to mimic.

[kevinpo]

My sand bed runs 3-5" so I checked 4-5". It's only been in operation 18 months. So far so good but I will have to wait until 5 years or so to pass before I can say whether or not it's optimal

Regards,
Kevin

[mgk65]

I have 4-6 inches in my display tank and around 8" or so in my frag tank.

mgk

[organicreefer]

i ran a 4" dsb on m old 93 for almost three years,i moved that sand(yes the whole bed) to my new 120 and added a bit more.ive had 4-6 inches in my display an 8 inches in my refugium for a little over a year now -and ive been slowly removing it-not because of any problems -the bed is thriving with hundreds of speghetti worms/and large feather dusters popping up everyhwere, plus the mini brittles other worms and pods etcetc.

i just feel that it is really overkill and id like to reclaim a little real estate. at least in the display-ill probly try to get it to average of 2-4 inches-some deep and some shallower parts.

[ChrisPrusha]

I have anywhere from 5-7" of sand in my tank. I can't tell you, however, if this is an optimal depth...I can only say that in the 10 months my 180 has been set up it appears to be working fairly well for me.

Chris

[reefeze]

How about as deep as possible?

RE

[MEC]

Just redid my 55 last weekend. The stand almost broke was one of those particle board peice of sh!!t. Had 4-5 inches in the tank orrigionally of arragonite. had lots of worms and stuff in it. Didnt really like the looks of the sand though. Ended up replacing all of the sand with some white silica sand. Saved some of the worms and other things though so in a few mounth I should have a nice live bed again. Think the deapth of the sand really helps get rid of the nitrates. Along with a good skimmer its all we really need to keeps things clean IMO.....Mike

[SPasse]

Hi All,

Some increase in the Nitrate reduction capability can be seen in a 6” deep bed over say a 4” deep bed.

The practical benefits of a bed deeper than 6” are TBD.

Regards,

Scott

[Ninong]

Wow! Someone must have voted in this seven-year-old poll and that's why the thread has popped up again.

Something to consider: the poll asks your opinion on the optimal sand bed depth, not the depth that may be most practical for your particular tank. I think that's an important distinction. I ran a 6" DSB (7" rear, sloping to 5" in front) in a tank that was 27.5" tall and I was very pleased with the results; however, I doubt that I would ever consider such a depth for a tank that was only 24" tall and I know I wouldn't for one only 20" tall.

Maybe the topic starter should have worded the question a little differently to specify the size of the tank and the height of the tank? The optimal depth for a 55-gal tank is not the same as the optimal depth for a 700-gal tank that is 36" tall unless you are convinced that a 2" sand bed or a 3" sand bed, whatever, is the best way to go regardless of the size of the tank.

I'm one of those people who believes that the appropriate sand bed depth depends on the size of the tank -- especially the height -- and the intended inhabitants. You wouldn't want to run the same sort of strong flow through a lagoonal biotope that you would through an SPS-dominated display.

[kevinpo]

My sand bed runs 3-5" so I checked 4-5". It's only been in operation 18 months. So far so good but I will have to wait until 5 years or so to pass before I can say whether or not it's optimal

Wow this is a flashback
I can report now that the sand bed worked just fine. One note: I had to add about 80lbs a year due to the .2 -1.2mm aragonite dissolving. The total sand in the tank was 850lbs.

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Kevin,

Are you still using sugar-sized aragonite?

[Ninong]

Kevin,

I think you're probably off by a factor of ten in the amount of sand you say dissolves in your sand bed, assuming you're adding 80 lbs.

You probably mean .2-1.2cm, not .2-1.2mm (.00787-.0472"). One millimeter (.03937") is only slightly larger than 1/32".

[kevinpo]

Are you still using sugar-sized aragonite?

Yes. According to their web site it averages .1-1.0mm.
CaribSea Dry Aragonite | Aragamax Sugar Sized Sand | Aragamax Select | Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand | Fiji Pink Reef Sand | Flamingo Reef Sand | Bermuda Pink | Grand Bahamas Biome | Super Reef

I think you're probably off by a factor of ten in the amount of sand you say dissolves in your sand bed, assuming you're adding 80 lbs.

Wouldn't that mean I'm losing 800lbs? 10x80?

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Wouldn't that mean I'm losing 800lbs? 10x80?

Regards,
Kevin

Kevin, that's not what I'm saying. I'm assuming you are correct when you say you had to add 80 lbs. The error -- by a factor of ten -- in in the units of measurement in the depth of the sand bed that dissolved.

You said you lost 0.2 - 1.2mm. You meant to say 0.2 - 1.2cm, not mm. If you really lost only 0.2 - 1.2mm, then you would have had to add only about 8 lbs.

[Ninong]

Kevin,

To put this another way, I know the size of your tank and you told me that it has 850 lbs of sand, so I know the depth of the sand bed because I also know the particle size. You told me you had to replace 80 lbs of sand. That means you had to replace ~1cm of your sand bed.

[kevinpo]

In my original post I was just giving the grain size aragonite I was using not a measurement of the height/depth of the sand bed that was lost
I also had to add 60lbs of sand to the 6"+ deep refugium every other year.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Wow this is a flashback
I can report now that the sand bed worked just fine. One note: I had to add about 80lbs a year due to the .2 -1.2mm aragonite dissolving. The total sand in the tank was 850lbs.

Regards,
Kevin

In my original post I was just giving the grain size aragonite I was using not a measurement of the height/depth of the sand bed that was lost
I also had to add 60lbs of sand to the 6"+ deep refugium every other year.

Cheers,
Kevin

Okay, I misread that. Sorry.

I thought you were talking about the depth of the sand bed lost, not the particle size of the sand bed.