DSB, SSB or bare

[hkgar]

Let's have a discussion about the pros and cons of each

The reason I am asking is that I have a seven year old tank with a deep sand bed and it is showing old tank syndrome. For the first six years my nitrates were never above 5 and then suddenly darted up to 30, 50 and higher. I started dosing vodka and have switched over to vinegar and they are staying at 0 as long as I religiously dose 60ml per day.

Phosphates also started to increase and I run GFO along with the dosing to keep everything under control.

I believe that the phosphates and nitrates leaching from the DSB are causing my Cyno outbreaks and the heavy film on the glass that needs daily removal.

I am considering a new tank, moving from a 90 to a 150 and this discussion will help tho decide what bed to put in the new tank. Obvioulsy this is a major undertaking as my tank is an SPS tank and I don't want to lose anything.

Lets hear your opinions.

 

[Eric45]

Definitely get rid of the dsb, your nitrates will drop to zero and you won't need to carbon dose at all. I had one in my sump and tank (five years) and got rid of both over a couple of months. I do clean the inch or so of gravel that's left. PO takes gfo I found.

 

[coralsnaked]

You can remove the sandbed and stay in the current tank w/ a bare bottom or < 1 inch of crushed coral or gravel. Takes a bit of well coordinated effort but I have sucessfully removed my deep sandbeds for the exact reason you have mentioned. A 90 gallon is pretty do-able. The critical part is saving all the clean water, and the tricky part is restacking all that rock in the same exact way. Course you are going to have some of that problem moving to a larger tank anyway.

Merry Skerry

 

[Eric45]

I just used a plastic cup and scooped the gravel out over the course of a couple of months...nothing to it.

 

[brandon429]

if you repeat the setup, in 7 yrs same thing. easy choice!