DSB Heresy

tabwyo. how do you keep the fine sand from going through the screen and then into the phlenum. i have a 300 gallon rubermaid sump and custom built myself the pvc to this configuration ...but when i put the sceen on and then the fine sand it just went through.

so ,, at that time all the hype was DSB...some here at reef central after popsting a thread about it suggested the DSB... i went with it.

now two years later i am wishing i did the phlenum. so next week end i am getting a couple of kiddie pools and am going to empty the rubermaid sump with its 20 plus bags of fine sand and intall the phlenum.

the question is what to use on top of the eggcrate on the pvc supports. three or four layers of screen did not work. i was thinking about using the micron felt.

anyone see a problem with using felt instead of screen material?
 
I use a two layers of very fine shade screen. The sheets of screen are larger enough to cover the cc under layer and have enough material to be shoved down the sides so I can fake the apperance of a fine sandbed. I allow some fine sand to fall down the fron so it looks better but the screen keeps the layers seperate.
 
Chicago,
if I understand you correctly, you are looking for a membrane to separate the plenum from a fine sand bed.
That's the direction I want to go. I just don't know what to use for the membrane.
 
correct. there are felt pads out there that run from 50 to 200 micron. they certainly will do thejob. issue is whether felt long term in tank is a problem.. i dont see it breaking donw.

other thought was to use the plastice sheet ,, it comes in rolls. its black and it isin the grandening center at HD> it is used to put down before you mulch. keeps weeds from coming through but allos water ect through.

dont know the composition of the stuff though. oil based product or the effect salt water has on it. i do remeber someone talking about using this stuff years ago. cant remeber the reponse though.
 
Are you running just one layer of sand? I have seen that done but it usualy turned out bad. I run a fine surface layer wich is basically a critter playground. My thick "filtration" layer is CC and oystershell and is kept unditurbed by digging critters by the screen. I also have a single layer of screen atop the plenum plate.
 
Chicago,

Somewhere in the first 10 pages of this thread there is discussion about landscaping fabric. That is probably a better option than window screen for the fine sand.

Jason
 
but is it better than .. flet .. the white stuff with varying degrees of micron. .. i think it would be better than the felt. but was looking to see if anyone ever tried it.

still looking to hear if anyone has setup a phlenum with fine/sugar sand. i know some have donethe course on the bottom then the fine. but doesnt the fine sand eventual do to th bottom and then through the regular window screen?
 
Had the plenum up for less that a year.

2"sugar fine carabsea live sand top layer
3" CC/oyster shell underlayer on eggcrate and 1"pvc

29g display
58 quart sump
7g fuge reverse lit
130w of PC light
Roughly 300gph turnover from display to sump and additional
circulation provided by 2 maxi-jets on a wave timer
1 phosreactor with Rowphos
1 phosreactor with carbon
1 tricked out seaclone(upgrade in the works)

water params are way good and I haven't seen any serious algae outbreraks. My cleaners keep up nicely. Brittle stars, fighting conch and a tigertail cuke keep my upper layer clean and stirred.
 
This "CPW" isn't anything new. He did, though, have a different spin on it. I think it can work but alot of folks will need to do it their own way and then share their info in order to fine tune it.
 
anyone give me a site for this shade screen.. or do i go with the material from HD for keepig the weeds out?

by the way. looks like this thread has been going on for some time. any good data come from it.

i really cant see me spending hour reading this.

any summations on it.
 
is this material safe to use. doesnt say what it is made of. kinda streches. .. its call weedblock made by easy garden inc. in waco tx. has micro funnels. say that this term is trademarked. will try and post pic.
 
I disagree with this method. Others have tried this and found it useless. If you spend lots of time reading on wetwebmedia you will see that this idea will eventually screw your dsb and will kill all in your tank. I think problems with dsb are really just lack of sand depth . Trust me on this..
What you have going is nothing more than a really really slow undergravel filter and you are defeating the whole purpose of a plenum. This is coming from someone with great results from dsb/plenum + live rock + skimming + OZONE, heavy bio load and heavy feeding and with 3 years and still kicking undetectable nitrates no matter what or how much I feed, even when I'm lazy with water changes.
Please take into consideration that this is JMO so please don't mega blast me.
All in all I would never ever consider doing this under any circumstances what so ever.
If any of you have ever had problems with you dsb, I'am almost sure you had a bed under 3-4 inches or border line circulation.
Again please JMO.
 
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