Please Help! Hydrogen Sulfide under DSB

[power boat jim]

If I was the one who had to fix your tank I would do this. Remove all but an inch or two of sand from the tank. Dont like the idea of a DSB in the display tank. Set up the fuge. If you run the tank properly the refugium will be all you should need for nutrient export. Dont add anything to the tank until nitrate is around .25 (though 1ppm you have isnt bad) and phosphate is .05 to .1. Ammonia should always be undetectable.

I tried a DSB on my tank years ago and it eventually crashed the tank. It just became a nutrient trap. Its not something that exists on a reef naturally. The sand is contantanly turned by waves and current. I know there are people who managed to pull this off but its not necessary with a fuge and good reefing practices. Other then that I would give the fuge time to work and just test the nutrient levels over the next month or so and see what happens.

 

[jpshwayze]

any body else?

 

[Ron Reefman]

For what it's worth, I have had a 6"-8" DSB in a seperate 2' x 2' section on my sump. I don't stir it at all and water flows over it from my fuge (just algae) and into the return pump section. I do have some small LR on the top and there are 2 yellow sea cucumbers living in it. They seem quite happy and I haven't had any nitrates in over 2 years.

 

[steve9]

Look i have run sandbeds for 20 years in a dozen different system.
They are not nitrate factorys thats what a bb tanks ARE if you like
to fight the nitrate battle go bb,
Leave it alone all you need to do is add some sand every year as sugar
sand will drop about a 1/2 inch a year.
There are millions of organisms in a sandbed that continually turn over
your bed....it a fact just read up on all the studys on sand bed fauna.
You need at least 2 inches of sugar sand and your bed will work great
there is no need to put more then 4inches but it wont hurt.

.

 

[jpshwayze]

thanks for your replies i too believe that deep sand bed are the way to go.
what should i get to seed it though, should i order some live rock online or live sand?
if so from where and what types?

 

[steve9]

A cup of sand out of any reef tank with a old sand bed is all
you need.......alot of LFS have something with old sand beds in them.
GARF crundge if you want to buy something over the net.

 

[jpshwayze]

GARF crundge if you want to buy something over the net.

what does that mean?

 

[elegance coral]

what does that mean?

Garf Grunge was originally the small bits of rubble, unwanted hitch hikers, and rotting organic matter from the bottom of commercial live rock holding tanks. The exact formula may have changed over the years, IDK, but I'm sure it's still something similar. This is the material I would throw away after curing live rock. Garf put together a sales pitch, and marketed this material as something beneficial. It is not.

 

[JPMagyar]

I looked for a simple photo, and I can't believe I don't have one but here is a tank with a DSB that's been running for 4 years, has eels, sand sifting gobies and sometimes gets stirred up so basically all the supposed "no-nos" of a DSB. I am using a shallow bed in my tank now, but fully intend to go back to a DSB in my next tank. I think what you are seeing is normal behaviour in a bed of that size and nothing to worry about.


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[homegrowncichli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-87vjCGwKI

As to the debate on gaseous release from old deep sand beds, here it is. Gas was odorless and does not appear to be noxious. Have observed intermittent gas release for the past day, and there is evidence releases have been occurring over the past few days due to sandy sediment build up on rocks, which are usually clean. DSP has been running for 7 years. Sand bed is 6 inches deep with a 1/2" plenum void underneath. Sand sifting organisms include, many snails, a horseshoe crab, which have been present for the past 3 years. Other Indigenous life includes bristle worms and a multitude of invertebrate life.