Deep Sand Bed DSB - who has one?

[pitmindi]

Hi, can those with a deep sand bed DSB tell me how old there tank is and a little about their tank. My fish tank maintenance guy thinks my tank's problems are from my DSB. My tank is 8 years old and is 90 gallons 48 inches. My DSB is about 7 inches. In the last many years I have not done anything except replenish the nassaris snails. His other tanks have purple coraline algae and my tank has never had any because it is always covered by detritus. for the last many months a green algae has also been growing on my rocks.

I am considering replacing the tank and starting over with almost no sandbed but I'd like to hear from other owners of tanks that have DSB

Thank you.

 

[mcgyvr]

DSBs can become a problem over time.. typically as the population of microfauna living in it start to decline and stop doing work in it ..
You need more than just some nassarius snails..
Always being covered by detritus isn't a good thing either..
So blaming the sand bed might not be the right answer to why the tank is having problems

You don't necessarily have to start over though you could replace/remove/replenish the sand over time.

Do you have nitrate/phosphate test results?

My experience says that coralline algae can be controlled (I hate the stuff and don't know why people want it so) by keeping mag levels low. I also happily employ an urchin to eat it up in my tank.. Scraping hard pink/purple crap off the glass all the time is not fun/desirable to me..

 

[Subsea]

I maintained a 6” Jaubert Plenum for 25 years. Because a Melanarious Wrasse decimated my sandbed janitors over a 2 year period, I vacumed the sandbed down to < 2” six months ago. I did this over a two week period with a tank full of fish, corals, sponges and shrimps.

From your discription, I am surprised that your sandbed lasted this long. If you feed it detritus for eight years without sufficient janitore to process detritus from your sandbed, eventually, biofilter will regurgitate it.

Perhapes you, as the chief janitor, should vacume your sandbed down to further evaluate if it requires to be all removed. I suspect that is not only unnecessary but would be harmful.

This is a vidio from 5 years ago. Note the GSP rock. I now have all of back glass covered in irridissent green.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FDt8QTAp0Cs

 

[Volcmreefer]

I have one. Tank has been up for 1.5 years. Bought some mama Mia and baby bristle worms a couple of months ago from Indo Pacific Reef Farms, hoping to keep things moving down there. We shall see...

 

[pitmindi]

Melanarious Wrass. I have had one for probably five years. I had an outbreak of flatworms and got him and he got rid of the flat worms. I did not know that he could harm my DSB. I don't know if I have Bristol stores I haven't seen any in years. Nor do I know about worms. Of course I had them to start with but I'm not sure now with the population is. It could be zero I've never seen evidence of any worms. I do know for sure that my sand is not hard anywhere because whenever I need to put something deep in the sand I never have any barrier.

I would be afraid to get rid to remove the Sand bed well corals and fish are in it because I have been reading and was warned by Another post that removing the trapped gas is going to kill everything. I could add more worms And bristles stars etc. and see if that helped Fix the sandbed and the tank but I might just get a whole new set up even though it will be costly.

 

[Volcmreefer]

Yeah, i don't touch mine. One less thing to worry about....for a few years, at least. I highly recommend Indo-Pacific Sea Farms. Great company. They even threw in some red macroalgae and a free coral on the order. My order was only about $80, but I think of it as preventative maintenance for the DSB. Happy Reefing!