Small DSB, Is it worth it?

[trick440]

Would a DSB of 6" do anything in a small area?

The areas footprint is only a 15" long, X 5" wide, (X 10" tall), with a flow rate of about 580gph.

What sand would be best for this application?

'oolitic sand'? Whatever that is..

 

[benray4fun]

Yes, oolitic aragamax sand. You could get filtration in as little as 1" of this sand, but questionable as far as "DENITRIFICATION." A six inch sand bed would be ideal for nitrification and denitrification..."the complete nitrogen cycle. The flow would have to be no more than 15x of total water volume turnover per hour.

Most hang on back (hob) refugiums are exactly what you're considering
& one of my local fish (lfs) run these with great succes, so you will have
a winner..."no doubt.":thumbsup:

 

[dendro982]

Seems like it may be worth it: DSB in a bucket, I'm considering this too.
Multilayered construction with denitrification media at the bottom, is described here, seems to be very efficient for reducing nitrates too.