Brian Prestwood
Premium Member
If you're setting up a new tank I've got live sand I'd like to trade for new sand. PM me.
This is a strange one so I'm going to explain it a bit.
Deep sand beds do two things. First they export nitrates as nitrous oxide gas. This is what they're primarily known for. The second thing they do is bind up nutients in the bacteria growing in them. However, once a sand bed is saturated with bacteria it achieves equilibrium and stops sequestering nutrients. In theory, nitrous oxide gas exporting never stops.
IMO - sequestering is more efficient than exporting. Also, after about five years some sand beds that have been in heavily fed tanks seem to do more harm than good.
I have my remote deep sand beds set up so I can remove a section of them at a time without introducing oxygen into the other sections. I set it up originally with a 50/50 mixture of new sand and live sand from my old tank. I had no ammonia/nitrite cycle when I set it up. I'm at the end of a two year turn over cycle for the 50/50 mixture. After this I'm cycling it out every four years.
This is a strange one so I'm going to explain it a bit.
Deep sand beds do two things. First they export nitrates as nitrous oxide gas. This is what they're primarily known for. The second thing they do is bind up nutients in the bacteria growing in them. However, once a sand bed is saturated with bacteria it achieves equilibrium and stops sequestering nutrients. In theory, nitrous oxide gas exporting never stops.
IMO - sequestering is more efficient than exporting. Also, after about five years some sand beds that have been in heavily fed tanks seem to do more harm than good.
I have my remote deep sand beds set up so I can remove a section of them at a time without introducing oxygen into the other sections. I set it up originally with a 50/50 mixture of new sand and live sand from my old tank. I had no ammonia/nitrite cycle when I set it up. I'm at the end of a two year turn over cycle for the 50/50 mixture. After this I'm cycling it out every four years.
