DSB Heresy
- Thread starter ldrhawke
- Start date
Thanks for the reply Big Daddy.
This thread has been an interesting & confusing read. Is there a reason why you did not use egg crate over the pvc. I think that it would require less pvc & provide more of an open area that would allow easier drainage of the waste. I understand your theory of the drainage cloth ( I now own 300 ft. smallest roll available) however I am concerned about it cloging over time. most of the info. I have read about plenums seem to use the egg crate & screen.
Do you drain the CPW on a regular basis, & how much is drained off ?
AND MOST IMPORTANT !! How has it been working over the years.
I am interested in the long term results ( who ins't). The speculation is that a DSB life span with or without a plenum is about 4~ 5 years until it needs to be replaced. This CPW method may prolong that indefinitely.
I appreciate your opinion & experience with this, I hope to be able to answer these questions myself to someone else in the future that may be interested in this CPW setup also.
AS ALWAYS
Thanks For A Reply
Steve (@^ 926
:smokin:
This thread has been an interesting & confusing read. Is there a reason why you did not use egg crate over the pvc. I think that it would require less pvc & provide more of an open area that would allow easier drainage of the waste. I understand your theory of the drainage cloth ( I now own 300 ft. smallest roll available) however I am concerned about it cloging over time. most of the info. I have read about plenums seem to use the egg crate & screen.
Do you drain the CPW on a regular basis, & how much is drained off ?
AND MOST IMPORTANT !! How has it been working over the years.
I am interested in the long term results ( who ins't). The speculation is that a DSB life span with or without a plenum is about 4~ 5 years until it needs to be replaced. This CPW method may prolong that indefinitely.
I appreciate your opinion & experience with this, I hope to be able to answer these questions myself to someone else in the future that may be interested in this CPW setup also.
AS ALWAYS
Thanks For A Reply
Steve (@^ 926
:smokin:
BigDaddy
Active member
The reason why I didn't use the egg crate had to do w/ uniform drainage. If you tried to drain an egg crate plenum you would short circuit the plenum and only drain from a portion of the bed (the area w/ least resistance). The method proposed by ldrhawke creates uniform drainage (the part of the pvc plenum farthest from the drain would have holes closer together thereby reducing resistance) w/o short circuiting. Mine isn't perfect, but the water I drain weekly does not smell very good. 
I have not found the drain cloth to clog. I will in the future dig up a portion to see. A living sand bed is suppose to process detritus the deeper you go the finer the particles until most of the waste is in suspension. So it shouldn't clog the drainage cloth.
I drain 5 gallons once a week. My total system volume is 440 gallons. Some thought it was too much. But, it seems to work for me. ldrhawke recommended draining a small amount each day.
My system has been up for 3 years now. The bed is full of life and everything looks good. I will keep updating this as the years go by.
Again, I'm not a marine biologist, but if your going to have a DSB this approach makes sense to me. And the water you drain doesn't look or smell good. So, why keep it in the tank.
I have not found the drain cloth to clog. I will in the future dig up a portion to see. A living sand bed is suppose to process detritus the deeper you go the finer the particles until most of the waste is in suspension. So it shouldn't clog the drainage cloth.
I drain 5 gallons once a week. My total system volume is 440 gallons. Some thought it was too much. But, it seems to work for me. ldrhawke recommended draining a small amount each day.
My system has been up for 3 years now. The bed is full of life and everything looks good. I will keep updating this as the years go by.
Again, I'm not a marine biologist, but if your going to have a DSB this approach makes sense to me. And the water you drain doesn't look or smell good. So, why keep it in the tank.
Henry Bowman
Reefing since '87
Where do you get the drainage cloth and / or what is it. Hope this has not already been answered..
TIA
TIA
steve, last year i got 300 lbs of caribsea sand at a better price than F&S before shipping just by talking to the manager of a not very good LFS that normally doesn't even stock caribsea substrate (world wide aquariums). you're buying a lot of sand, they'll give you a big discount and just get it from their supplier, who will almost certainly have it.
Thanks Big daddy
Oddly enough there is a plant for Old Castle products about 30 min. away from my house.
I spoke to them and their reply was the Co. making the aragonite was no longer in business. (these people have a better secret than the winning lotto numbers !) The product that they supply to HD & Lowes they say is a limestone base ( Kolorscape W/ Ply Snd) The size of the sand is sugar fine or possibly smaller. it does not Fizz with the vinegar test. The bag contains a warning that it may contain a small amount of silica in it. I read on the forums that there are people that have used this type of sand with no problems. How long, they do not say.
My concern is it's size & possible sand storms in the display. I would like to have some gobbies & wonder if this sand is OK ?
The last thing I want to do is to tear it all down & replace the sand.
As Always
Thanks for your input :thumbsup:
Steve (@^ 926
:smokin:
Oddly enough there is a plant for Old Castle products about 30 min. away from my house.
I spoke to them and their reply was the Co. making the aragonite was no longer in business. (these people have a better secret than the winning lotto numbers !) The product that they supply to HD & Lowes they say is a limestone base ( Kolorscape W/ Ply Snd) The size of the sand is sugar fine or possibly smaller. it does not Fizz with the vinegar test. The bag contains a warning that it may contain a small amount of silica in it. I read on the forums that there are people that have used this type of sand with no problems. How long, they do not say.
My concern is it's size & possible sand storms in the display. I would like to have some gobbies & wonder if this sand is OK ?
The last thing I want to do is to tear it all down & replace the sand.
As Always
Thanks for your input :thumbsup:
Steve (@^ 926
:smokin:
BigDaddy
Active member
I think that sand would be fine. When the bacteria weighs the sand down you shouldn't have any more sand storms.
Mine was cloudy for quite a while ( I think it took a week w/ the skimmer to clear things up). But, now even when the clown stirs things up it doesn't cloud the water.
Mine was cloudy for quite a while ( I think it took a week w/ the skimmer to clear things up). But, now even when the clown stirs things up it doesn't cloud the water.
coralreefer
No Pistons
ldrhawke?
He posted on RF that he went barebottom ~2005.
As Always Big Daddy
THANKS FOR THE REPLY :thumbsup:
I plan to use a CPW plenum with an egg crate / screen for the first layer & use the drainage cloth to separate the fine from the c/corral bottom layer. I have tried to calculate the drainage on the plenum & have drilled larger sized hole's at the furthest point in it. I think that the open bottom area in it will provide a better flow for the drainage. My design is a 3 section, 12' wide 34' long with a center tube. It is connected with 2, 4 way 1/2" connectors in the center tube to link it all together with the T's & the outside tubes.
Because of the Euro bracing on top, I had to make it in 3 sections to fit it in the display. I hope to get it up & running this week. Soon as I figure out how to post some pics I will.
I sent a PM to thank you, but your box is full.
SO
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING
Steve (@^ 926 Ret. NYPD
:smokin:
THANKS FOR THE REPLY :thumbsup:
I plan to use a CPW plenum with an egg crate / screen for the first layer & use the drainage cloth to separate the fine from the c/corral bottom layer. I have tried to calculate the drainage on the plenum & have drilled larger sized hole's at the furthest point in it. I think that the open bottom area in it will provide a better flow for the drainage. My design is a 3 section, 12' wide 34' long with a center tube. It is connected with 2, 4 way 1/2" connectors in the center tube to link it all together with the T's & the outside tubes.
Because of the Euro bracing on top, I had to make it in 3 sections to fit it in the display. I hope to get it up & running this week. Soon as I figure out how to post some pics I will.
I sent a PM to thank you, but your box is full.
SO
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING
Steve (@^ 926 Ret. NYPD
:smokin:
BigDaddy
Active member
JMHO If you read the whole thread, I think ldrhawke went kinda overboard in the middle when he tried to recycle the cpw water. It was like he was trying to create a closed system.
My whole goal in this was to create a sandbed system that out lives a current DSB. I will keep posting as the years go by.
Steve -- best of luck, keep posting to let us know how its working.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
I can't find it. Can someone PM me a link to his post on RF please?<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9927876#post9927876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralreefer
ldrhawke?
He posted on RF that he went barebottom ~2005.
