anybody in URS remove any DSB?

Wow.. everyone should check that photo gallery out.

Adding live sand from another system is not going to throw your levels off noticeably or significantly. {Assuming you're not taking my whole DSB!}
The problematic phosphates that are being discussed in DSB removal threads don't register on test kits.
We've been sharing sand among URS members for years.

Here are links to the threads:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263482

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=286634
 
Doug-

That's the guy! Brilliant design, I also seem to recall his day job is in wastewater management or something.

If I ever get a weekend free, I'm ditching the DSB, especially since my jawfish went carpet surfing (poor little french fry!)

John
 
drtango said:
If I ever get a weekend free, I'm ditching the DSB, especially since my jawfish went carpet surfing (poor little french fry!)
John
Click to expand...
John- Don't put it off. I'b be interested in hearing of your observations once you remove it. If I was yanking my whole DSB, I think I'd be using the garden hose to get rid of it all ASAP.
I'm still tempted.:rolleyes:
 
go to chase pitkin, buy a bunch of the cheapie 32 gallon garbage cans probably like 8-10 (they fit nicely into one and another of them. take everything out including the rock / fish keeping all of the h20. use a snow shovel to get the majority of the sand out into a normal garbege can (for the trash). then use a shop vac to get the rest out, so tank is sparkling. fill 70% do the stack, top off, add animals. you're done. Now's the time to do a nice big water change (if using R.O. put a couple of days between buying cans and doing the change for them to fill). Your ready to rock. Next day rinse cans out and bring them back :) That's how I did it (minus about 300 lbs additional sand) but that just adds about 30 minutes extra shoveling time. Fish and corals were psyched with the water change and ate IMMEDIATELY. That's how I would do it, when I did mine I did a 100% water change with reverse osmosis water (just add 1 day per can of filling prior to the operation). Let me know if you need some help, I love this stuff! When your done you'll feel like you have a brand new tank!
keep on swimming,
Ben
 
Ben - Since my last post I tried a larger diameter hose, but I didn't like the results. It removed too much water with a limited amount of sandbed.
The gravel-vac works better for my particular application.
Since I'm not removing livestock, I gotta go real slow. Disturbing too much sandbed at one time in my aquarium would be very bad.
 
Gary Majchrzak said:
jackson6745- You have a DSB and you were considering making it even deeper, right?
Click to expand...

LOL....Yeah. Actually the opposite. I have slowly been removing my DSB. I remove about 30lbs monthly. I usually remove a few pounds by siphoning out the surface layer into a micron bag placed over my sump. When I do a water change I just suck up as much sand and water until I fill my rubbermaid. I'm down to a 2" SB in the front of the tank and a 4" DSB in the back. I have to try to fit my hands behind the rocks...LOL;)

BTW besides a little clouding of the water for an hour or so I have noticed no i'll effects to my corals from disturbing the DSB
 
200 Gallons later...

200 Gallons later...

I've only begun to scratch the surface {pun intended} of my DSB removal/replacement project.
Here is a great shot. It show's a cross section of my sandbed that has been removed. The sandbed is 6.5" deep at the highest point in this picture. Notice the tubes of sand dwelling worms and darker gray "dust"- which is actually 6 year old detritus that was locked up in the DSB and can break down no further. I underestimated how much infauna is in my DSB. It's loaded with stuff. Makes a great SB for FO tanks... lots of "bonus" invertebrates. It makes me cringe when I see newbie tanks that have 4"-6" of new {sterile} southdown DSB. Removing a DSB is a chore that I would try to avoid if at all possible.
 
bdavis said:
Ben, Your kidding right?

Bob
Click to expand...

Nope, that's exactly what I did when I "rebooted" my tank. Thought it was kind of shady but after I rinsed them out they looked like they had never been used, all I used them for was to hold r.o. water. Seeing how I'm a reefer on a shoestring budget, I have to get creative from time to time. Chase pit had zero problems with accepting the return.
Ben
 
Gary with all this mess
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=287911
I'm not going to have a DSB for long as I keep siphoning out the slime algae, I always get a healthy amount of sand. You gotta admit though it looks awesome when It's nice and shining clean. The only reason why I set up the DSB is b/c I know that there is no way the tank will remain set up for more than 2 years. In fact we're getting new carpets eventually so who knows. Seems like everyone is jumpin off the dsb wagon. I just can't seem to get used to a bare bottom tank though.
Ben
 
400 gallons later...

400 gallons later...

I'm down to bare bottom in two corners of my aquarium. It's very apparent that coral growth was inhibited by whatever was locked up in the sandbed. {Most likely organic and inorganic phosphates.} I've read a lot of differing opinions in many threads on a lot of different boards from many knowledgable people on this subject. One thing is for sure- a DSB can make the export of phosphates much more difficult.
Randy Holmes Farley article on Phosphorus with some suggestions for it's removal at the bottom:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm
 
Last edited:
I had a DSB in my old 30 gallon and a number of events may have led to a crash and the subsequent removal of my DSB.

Fall 2002 - I originally added a DSB (around 4" in my 30 long).
April 2003 - Ice STorm knocks out power for 3 days with outdoor temps in single numbers and indoor temps in the 50's. I also had no water movement. Approximately 50-70% of my corals died or were dying. I removed the dead snails, fish and corals.

September 2003 - I had a major outbreak of red slime algae, so I decide to clean up the top of the DSB and actually disturbed the sand a bit. A day or two later....boom....major death. I lost two fish and just about the remainder of my corals. The ones that remained alive were all shriveled up.

I worked with Tom at TRS and did a bunch of 50-75% water changes with no real luck (new fish and snails would just die even though parameters were OK). We eventually assumed that it was a DSB crash. Tom thought that the April blackout may have caused the death of most of the organisms that were responsible for turning over my sand which in turn led to a buildup of bad gases in my DSB. Then when I stirred up the bed in September, I released these gases and pretty much killed everything.

So I removed the DSB and went with an aragonite base of about 1" and did a complete water change. The corals I had remaining (a couple of ricordia, a scolymia, a frogspawn and devil's finger immediately came back to life. I was able to keep snails and fish again and the rest is history.

When I removed the DSB, I basically used two 20 gallon rubbermaid containers to place my LR and corals. Then drained the tank and emptied the sand with a plastic cup into a contractors bag. I then hosed out the tank and refilled it with the new water and replaced the rock. I did not add the aragonite right away, I waited a few weeks.

Hope that helped.
 
ReeferMac said:
I'm curious (because I have some I need to get rid of too), what did you do with all the sand?

- Mac
Click to expand...

I have been removing the bed slowly in my FO - I just dump the sand in the back yard - spread it around as much as I could - gone in a few days. These are all prime example why I like my UGF w/ CC in the reef
 
Well, actually, despite the current furvor, I plan on keeping my bed... I just have a lot of sand left over from when I was making my arragocrete, and was looking for ways to get rid of it. Hate to just throw it all out. I spent what, a whopping.. 8-bucks a bag for the stuff... :D

- Mac
 
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