MarkD40
New member
I am currently updating my 7 year old 110 gallon fish only marine tank (with a fair amount of mushroom corals). I have a 75 gallon sump in the basement. When I set up my tank originally the advice I got was to use an undergravel filter in the sump with powerheads. I put a 12" X 48" undergravel plate in the tank. The remaining 6" X 48" portion of the tank was just aragonite sand about 4" deep to facilitate anaerobic bacterial action. My water quality is fine with 0% nitrate.
I have been reading about the benefits of a deep sand bed and how undergravel filters promote high nitrate levels. I would like to remove the powerheads from the undergravel and deepen the sand bed over the plates. My question is, can I leave the undergravel plates in place? My concern is that the 1" layer of standing water beneath the plates would get kind of creepy and create problems like hydrogen sulfide gas. Is this a concern? I plan on adding some soft corals in the future.
I only have about 1" of aragonite in the dislay tank but it is teeming with copopods and other unidentifiable wiggly things. Should I also deepen the sand bed in my dispay tank or will the large sand bed in my sump be enough?
I also have about 80#'s of naked live rock (sump is not illuminated) in my sump that was left over from my aquascaping of the display tank and it has been in the sump for several years. Should I remove it, leave it in resting on the sand bed, or elevate in an inch or so above the sand bed on eggcrate to prevent dead spots in the sand?
Last but not least, is it a good idea to occsionally vaccuum the deep sand bed to clean it or should you just stir it up a little or just LEAVE IT ALONE?
Thanks in advance. Mark Dobyns
I have been reading about the benefits of a deep sand bed and how undergravel filters promote high nitrate levels. I would like to remove the powerheads from the undergravel and deepen the sand bed over the plates. My question is, can I leave the undergravel plates in place? My concern is that the 1" layer of standing water beneath the plates would get kind of creepy and create problems like hydrogen sulfide gas. Is this a concern? I plan on adding some soft corals in the future.
I only have about 1" of aragonite in the dislay tank but it is teeming with copopods and other unidentifiable wiggly things. Should I also deepen the sand bed in my dispay tank or will the large sand bed in my sump be enough?
I also have about 80#'s of naked live rock (sump is not illuminated) in my sump that was left over from my aquascaping of the display tank and it has been in the sump for several years. Should I remove it, leave it in resting on the sand bed, or elevate in an inch or so above the sand bed on eggcrate to prevent dead spots in the sand?
Last but not least, is it a good idea to occsionally vaccuum the deep sand bed to clean it or should you just stir it up a little or just LEAVE IT ALONE?
Thanks in advance. Mark Dobyns
