ive been doing some research into a lagoon style or &that bare bottom stuff i was rambling about when i started here, i came accross this posting by Crazy Trigger some time back, its kinda long, sausage about that, but i wanted to see what peoples current views are on the subject.
ok here goes, i bet after the paste it will be a mile long!
*** Putting on my anti-flame gear first ***
I was actually going to post this on an "active" thread in Dr. Ron's forum that I started earlier this week. I wanted to get my points across but knew that the flame throwers would be out in full force and I'd have no backing at all. At least here in the Reef Discussion there's a better chance of getting a small following once the flamers come out
OK here's what I was going to post there.....
I think a deep sandbed can be VERY functional. My question is....for how long can it be functional before it turns bad?
I did alot of searching on the board over the past few days before posting this so I come somewhat prepared. There are loads of people on the board with bare bottom or shallow beds. That doesn't mean it's right or the only way to go. I'm just stating what I observed.
I am not saying "Bare bottom is the best." I'm just voicing an opinion of why I think a deep bed could potentially be bad. If you can tell me that I am wrong, and why, I will graciously listen. Basically what it comes down to is that a topic like this is trouble and usually ends up with someone flaming someone and so on and so on. No one wants to shout it from the roof-tops "I HAVE A BARE BOTTOM REEF TANK!!!" -- "YAHOOOOOO!!!!! I RUN A
BERLIN SYSTEM!!!!" (Modified Berlin System is with sand).
That's because everyone will reply and sing the praises of having a
DSB, at the same time putting down that dude's bare bottom tank that's been successful for 10 years.
Either way, if your current set up works and it ain't broke, don't fix it. I do however come with warnings of an aged sandbed becoming a toxic waste dump! I have a 2-3 inch bed now. I saw hydrogen sulfide and guess what -- I WANT IT OUT!!!!! AND FAST!!!! There are plenty of worms and critters going through it and yet my sand still looks like a dump! This is NOT something that I feel would benefit MY system in ANY way and it's just my opinion. Maybe you want hyrodgen sulfide in your tank. I don't
want it in mine nor do I want to fuel it by having 4 inches of sand for it to blossom in.
According to Dr. Ron, every system has it when you run a
DSB. Sorry, I don't want it. Something will eventually expell it into the tank! Thanks, but no thanks....
Anyway, in reading these posts that I found while searching around, I saw a couple of people say that it is recommended to siphon out all the sand from 1/4 of your tank each year and then slide the rest of the sand over, cover with either new sand or live sand. If that is the case then that has got to tell you something right there! An old sandbed is a bad one, maybe? Are we aiding our tanks in being toilets? Most deep bed advocates say "For it to work, it has to be set up right." How many people do you think have their beds set up right? Half, less than half? or even less than that? What about the people that started with
CC and then dumped in 100 lbs of southdown on top of that because they read on the board that a
DSB is "the only way to go"? Is that a
set up you'd consider a "right set up"? I think not! Then you wonder why their next post a couple of weeks later is "My sand is brown!!!! what can i buy to stir/shift it"?
Have you ever wondered why your tank would look so great for a year or so and then seem to require more work and show signs of decline? I have !!!!! I've seen sudden changes in the health of my tank about once a year. While I can't be sure it's the sandbed, I think my accusations are right on target.
Eventually the "stuff" that gets down there turns into pollutants and that's when the fun begins. Maybe the ones that stir their sand occassionally don't have this problem but I wonder if
those of you who never touch your sand do. Anyone ever think that it's possible for 200lbs (maybe more) of sand to begin to compact in your tank? Can't be - I have life in there constantly stirring it around. I don't think so!
The animals in my tank look extremely healthy right now. Then I look at the sandbed with all it's ugly colored layers and I say "YUCK!" I've seen other people's tanks in the past where they had these "black zones." The tanks were great up until that point. I've seen pristine tanks turn into swamps in the blink of an eye (Ok maybe 2 blinks). With a deep sand bed I think you have a better chance of having a mess on your hands than if you had a one inch bed or less. Granted if you have a bare bottom you have to siphon out
detritus or have the right amount of flow in the right places to bring the
detritus up and hold it in suspension to be filtered out. It's a fixable thing. I'd rather do weekly cleanings than have that time bomb ticking under all my corals and rock.
People say "well without a
DSB you won't have critters!" Either way, if it's critters you want, you'll still get um....
Think about it. Look at your tank. Where do most of your critters live? In the first 1/2 - 1" of sand? In the rocks too maybe?
LOL!!!!
Where do you think they come from in the first place? I started MY tank with dead sand and
live rock. In a few months the tank was teaming with life!!!!! These animals I view do not live deep deep down in the sand. Do they? Maybe I'm wrong there.
Who knows.....
Are those bristle worms that you just paid $100 for gonna burrow deep into your 4" bed and process those nutrients for the animals in the lower food chain? Are they really gonna keep your sandbed clean and pollutant free? Are they gonna prevent your sand from compacting?
You talk about feeding feeding feeding !!!! If you feed your fish,
your corals will get fed too. Granted I also use
DT's and other planktonic foods but that's for my corals, not my sandbed. You have to feed the animals that populate your sandbed so they could multiply and mulitply and have this tremendous power to process more and more and more? If you don't, the bed will starve and you will have no life in the bed to handle the processing.
Well if you did not have a deep bed, you would not have to worry about adding extra food to your tank to feed to your "starving bed." You'd also have less to process!!!! QUOTE UNQUOTE....Geez!!!!!! What a concept. The bed is there for its processing power as well as biodiversity? Correct? STOP FEEDING LIKE A LOONEY AND YOU WON'T NEED TO PROCESS SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought we were raising corals, not sand beds. It seems people spend more time and money on their
sandbeds than the corals that they are trying to raise. Detritivore kits, live sand activators, not to mention Garf grunge, etc etc etc !!!!!!!! If you bought good
live rock, you'll have plenty of critters populating your aquarium giving you that bio-diversity that you want.
What happened to plenums? Those were certainly the rage when they first came out. Oh yeah, they were real trendy! My
LFS told me if you set up a plenum right (someone says it again), you can go 10 years without a water change!
Boy those went out of style pretty fast. Wonder why?
LOL!!!!!!!
Maybe a sterile tank is not want appeals to you or maybe I am a little out of my league here. Either way, it all seems pretty clear to me.
Honestly guys/gals, I am not looking for a flame attack here.
I'd like to hear views from both sides.
Thanks much.
CT
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