DSB in a bucket for nitrate control
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Anthony Calfo
New member
either will work, but I'll suggest the length instead.
Teremei
New member
I'm going with something simular to that too. I reccomend 1" too, that way any niusance areas can be completely replaced easily. And you can still have snails and crabs. So. I just found out about this method and will consider using this under my tank. Can someone please draw me a mental picture of how to set this up/what equipment I will need? (sorry I did not read all 10 pages)
Anthony Calfo
New member
"Can someone please draw me a mental picture of how to set this up/what equipment I will need? (sorry I did not read all 10 pages)"
Teremei... I promise you that your aquarium, livestock and education in this hobby you will get by being resourceful and not asking to be spoon-fed are well worth the time taken to read the free content assembled here for those very purposes (improving you and the health of your livestock).
It would also be respectful to us and our our time if you'd kindly just take the time to read it.
I do appreciate your honestly in saying you did not read the thread. Please do understand that I am more interested helping you be a better aquarist if nothing else by making the effort to use the tremendous wealth of knowlege that is in this free content archive that we call Reef Central.
You will answer your questions and learn so much more in the process for forming such (good) habits.
Teremei... I promise you that your aquarium, livestock and education in this hobby you will get by being resourceful and not asking to be spoon-fed are well worth the time taken to read the free content assembled here for those very purposes (improving you and the health of your livestock).
It would also be respectful to us and our our time if you'd kindly just take the time to read it.
I do appreciate your honestly in saying you did not read the thread. Please do understand that I am more interested helping you be a better aquarist if nothing else by making the effort to use the tremendous wealth of knowlege that is in this free content archive that we call Reef Central.
You will answer your questions and learn so much more in the process for forming such (good) habits.
First off, I just finished all 10 pages, and wow that's a read. It reads like you guys have pretty much hit the jackpot for removing nitrate. This is especially nice to see, since I'm starting plans for a 30g right now that had originally included a 10g sump/refugium. Now, you've got me thinking about a RDSB, and how I can turn that 10g into one. I assume I'd have to make it water-tight, to turn it into a part of a closed loop?
Great thread folks, I hope you don't mind the newbie asking Qs.
Great thread folks, I hope you don't mind the newbie asking Qs.
Anthony Calfo
New member
all good Fish'InMN 
And welcome to RC!
As for your 10 gall sump plan... you might just take a small bucket next to the sump and prop it up (with a hole drilled at the top for the overflow) to be slightly above the height of the sump. This way, you do not have to handicap refugium or sump-proper space.
Power it with a small powerhead in the sump that feeds this RDSB on its own little loop.
And welcome to RC!
As for your 10 gall sump plan... you might just take a small bucket next to the sump and prop it up (with a hole drilled at the top for the overflow) to be slightly above the height of the sump. This way, you do not have to handicap refugium or sump-proper space.
Power it with a small powerhead in the sump that feeds this RDSB on its own little loop.
Teremei
New member
Anthony, no offense taken. I have had a reef tank up and going for near a year now. I understand the process of denitrification, all I am asking is what pumps, and or products I will need to connect this to my new tank.
But your right, I should probably read the whole thread. I stopped at page 2. I fully understand the concept, but I have yet to see a link to a diagram. All I've read so far is to make water move briskly over a DSB in a bucket. Nobody had mentioned what sort of pumps they were using (atleast up to page 2)
I am currently planning a 90 gallon. Luckily for me I have room for it and I can slowly set it up while still keeping my 55 running. The first thing I am going to do is find the perfect sand (maybe just up to 1 inch). The mistake I made with my first tank was adding 5" of gravel (this is a terrible newbie mistake that I will not repeat).
I will bring up this remote sand bed up to my custom sump maker, and make this a part of my sump when I do ditch the wet/dry my 90 comes with.
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6274381#post6274381 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Anthony Calfo
all good Fish'InMN
And welcome to RC!
As for your 10 gall sump plan... you might just take a small bucket next to the sump and prop it up (with a hole drilled at the top for the overflow) to be slightly above the height of the sump. This way, you do not have to handicap refugium or sump-proper space.
Power it with a small powerhead in the sump that feeds this RDSB on its own little loop.
Ah, I see. I will have to figure out what bucket size will fit, but it sounds like a 5gal is what everyone is using. I don't have any use for Kitty Litter, but maybe that type of bucket will work best.
Thanks a bunch for the ideas folks, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions sometime!
Regards,
Marty
AnnArborBuck
New member
Wasn't there an article in one of the recent Reef Magazines (hard copy, not Reef Central's, it's a yearly mag) that talked about DSBs. In particular, they discussed a new system that was being tried that that implemented a remote deep sand bed with a a plenum. In this setup, the author flowed the water through the plenum and then the water would be forced to flow up though the sand. He used red dye to track flow of water through the sand to see the movement of the water. From what I remember the experiments went pretty well.
I actually like this idea better because then you don't have to worry about creating a plenum, solids in the plenum, etc.
Diffusion at it's greatest, so simple, yet so powerfull.
I actually like this idea better because then you don't have to worry about creating a plenum, solids in the plenum, etc.
Diffusion at it's greatest, so simple, yet so powerfull.
AnnArborBuck
New member
Somewhat, but he used a very fine sand and about a 18 inch layer of it with a very slow flow rate. I will look tonight to see if I can find the article, just depends on when I get home from work.
captbunzo
Premium Member
If the entire point of the vessel is to serve as a RDSB, then you would fill it up until there was maybe 1-2 inches of water flowing over the top. Then make sure that you have enough flow to keep solids from settling into the sand. With 1-2 inches of water, that is only 2.7 - 5.4 gallons total. So even the most modest amount of flow across the top should be sufficient.
Let us know how this works out for you!
fishfeeder
New member
The Magazine is "Marine Fish & Reef". It was the 2005 Annual. It was called an "Upside down sand bed"...where water was administered exactly as you were speaking of. Great article, actually very interesting read...FWIW.
Jay
kysmith
New member
OK so here is my question (I've read the whole thing). I was going to do a 10G fuge, but now I'm thinking of doing just a 10G RDSB it seems like I might get better results out of this from reading. Plus I'll save $$ on my electric bill.
Also from what I'm reading it sounds like no one is seeing this sand, don't you need to seed it for it to work?
Also from what I'm reading it sounds like no one is seeing this sand, don't you need to seed it for it to work?
Herpervet
New member
I know this has been discussed already but how do you prevent the entire bucket from turning into a solid rock of sand?
I am using aragonite and the top layer sets up. So far I have been manually crushing it up but I am afraid deeper levels of sand could set up and create problems.
Will silica sand set up like this?
If not it might be a strong arguement in its favor not to mention the cost of aragonite.
I am using aragonite and the top layer sets up. So far I have been manually crushing it up but I am afraid deeper levels of sand could set up and create problems.
Will silica sand set up like this?
If not it might be a strong arguement in its favor not to mention the cost of aragonite.
Anthony Calfo
New member
the gist of it is indeed keeping pH high and stable, and also to not spike the tank with your Ca/Alk additions.
Folks that add kalkwasser too much or too fast, for example, have "enjoyed" the sand bed fusing in clumps as I seem to recall.
But it is not an inevitability with aragonite... just with poorly managed aragonite
Randy Holmes Farley and the Chem forum folks are much better to chat to about this though for the hows and whys.
Folks that add kalkwasser too much or too fast, for example, have "enjoyed" the sand bed fusing in clumps as I seem to recall.
But it is not an inevitability with aragonite... just with poorly managed aragonite
Randy Holmes Farley and the Chem forum folks are much better to chat to about this though for the hows and whys.
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