Deep Sand Bed

[TBLightningFan]

I decided that I will convert my 55 gallon Fish Only tank substrate to a DSB. I am not too worried about a Biologcal filtration impact as I have dual Marineland 30 Bio-Wheels running Bio-filtration as is. Here is the contents at the moment.

55 Gallon Tank (Fish Only)
-------------------------------
1 Palette Surgeonfish (Pacific Blue Tang) - Paracanthurus hepatus (3")
1 Herald's (False Lemonpeel) Angel - Centropyge heraldi (3")
1 Flame Angel - Centropyge loricula (2.5")
2 Clown fish - Amphiprion ocellaris (1")
1 Domino Damsel - Dascyllus trimaculatus (2")
1 Yellowtail Blue Damsel - Chrysiptera parasema (1")

I do have 3 Mexican turbos doing glass cleaning duty in this tank. Does anyone know about how many pounds I should need of live sand to make the bed thick enough? And how deep does it need to be?

 

[Navarre]

Im confused... THe purpose of a DSB is for filtration yet you say you arent concerned with its bio capacity? can i ask what you want the dsb for if its not filtration?

 

[TBLightningFan]

Of course I want the DSB for its bio benefits! I just dont know how thick it should be When I said not concerned about bio-filtration impact. I meant I am not worried about a temporary decrease in bio-filtering function occurring with the switchout of substrate as others mention. I'm sure the crushed coral is providing some function but right now most of it occurs with the two huge biowheels. I have heard there can be complications doing a change out such as this.

BTW.. there undoubtedly will be severe cloudiness in the water after the switch... how much should I let it clear before returning the fish to the tank? I dont want to keep them displaced for all too long. Or could I even do it with the fish in the tank?

Which would be less stress?

 

[TBLightningFan]

Any suggestions?

 

[Navarre]

A DSB needs to be at least 4-5 inches IMO.
Make sure that you dont have any sandsifter starfish in there as a DSB and sandsifters dont mix well

The cloudiness should nt bother the fish, when i had my tanks upfraded the tank was really cloudy. i had no choice but to add the fish and it never seemed to affect them.

 

[Great Lakes]

I would not switch out the crushed coral if I were you. I would just kepp adding to it until you reach your 4 to 5 inches.

Yes, the sand is prettier, but the crushed coral seems to promote better pod life.

GL

 

[Navarre]

GL is right, its much better to have layers os different sized sands in a DSB IMO this promotes a lots of different types of life for each area. pods prefer larger grain sizes for breeding etc. worms prefer the finer sand so a mixture will do better as far as variety is concerned and lets face it, a DSB works better with the more diverse life in it.

 

[TBLightningFan]

So maybe what I can do is remove part (maybe half) of the crushed coral.And leave an inch or so. Then I can put the sand right on top. Maybe I can go through and make patches where the coral and sand are mixed up a bit through the layer. Otherwise the it will be layered throughout. With the Anaerobic bacteria forming deep down. Maybe it would be good for the coral to have that layer and have more space to work inbetween the thicker substrate.

Thanks for the advice on the cloudiness. I figured it will still be stressful on the fish with me digging in there and clouding it up. But I think moving them to another place temporarily would be much more stressful.

The coral is at a 2" level now. removing half will get me to an inch. I was gonna buy 110 pound of sand. I figured that will get me at least 4" of sand at the minimum.

 

[xxnonamexx]

I'm thinking about doing the same thing converting a FO to a reef with the DSB method. This is my current tank set-up I have been reading alot of information on how to convert my 55 gal. fish only tank to a reef tank. I read about the BULLETPROOF method and have been thinking about going with the Deep Sand Bed method. My tank as it stands now is a 55 gal. with 2 POWERHEAD 802 on each side facing each other on high. a heater at 78 degrees a red sea Protein skimmer, A Biological trickle wet/dry filter, 260 watt light which Includes two 21" 65 watt Actinic and two 21" 65 watt 10000°K bulbs (straight pin base). live rock, and live sand which is about 1.5-2 in deep. I have a yellow tang, cardinal fish, damsel snails, crabs, 2 sand sifting fish and a zebra eel. I think from what I have read my lighting is sufficient. I need to have at least 4 in deep of live sand. How much more sand do I need to purchase? I read that I also need to buy some GRUNGE from Garf's website, I read on here that I should add crushed coral to the live sand. How much would I need and do I mix it or layer it? . Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Navarre]

HOw much you add really depends on the surface area of hte tank. you could have a very tall 55 gallon tank and thus not need a great deal of sand to make 4 or 5 inches deep. but if you have a larger surface area and a far shalower tank then you will need alot more sand to creat this depth.
You should be aiming for about 5 inches od depth for a DSB. Alfa grog is not essential for a DSB but it is a good idea to get lots of different grain sizes to create as diverse an environment as possible.

Lastly. 55 gallons is not a great size for a yellow tang, is it wise to reduce its swimming room by another 5 inches ?

 

[xxnonamexx]

I understand what you are saying about shrinking the size of my tank. The 55 gal is about 19" tall and 4 ft wide. So how much sand should I add? Also when you say add different sizes of sand and crushed coral should it be layered or mixed with the live sand? Also the sand sifting starfish will be of no help either? Also have you heard about GRUNGE? You say it isn't neccessary? It looks like my tang and eel need to go maybe solo in a 30 gal that I have as an extra just to keep em.

 

[Navarre]

A Sandsifter shold not be kept in a DSB as it will sterilise it of life. I would add the sand in layers but this will not remain this way for too long as pods and worms will soon mix it up.

Grunge is very good and can be beneficial to the system but its not essential. The larger size make it an ideal habitat for ods to grow and multiply

 

[xxnonamexx]

What sand do u reccomend? I have live sand should I add crushed coral or just different size live sand? Brand names recommended? How much grunge? Finally should I start with the coral beginner pack that are offered online to start. I am not looking to jump into a reef right away since I have a zebra moray eel and yellow tang which I wasn't thinking about removing. Thanks for all of your healt It's greeatly appreciated. Mike

 

[Opcn]

Well your aiming for diversity here so you want to creat zones where everything can survive and flourish, Your aiming for a multitude of different sections of different grain sizes and brand wont really affect that,
Also niether of the fish you have are really a threat to corals so you can move ahead with that, Infact once you add live rock and coral to a tank doesnt it become "Reef" no matter what fish you have?

Goodluck to you

 

[xxnonamexx]

This is the live sand that I have in my existing tank now which is about 1.5" deep and I feel it is fine sand I saw on Drs Foster Smith site about Arag live sand that has different sizes. What I need to know is how many bags does it take to make the next layer? should it go bigger then the next layer bigger until I achieve 4 inches? Or should I top it off with the fine live sand again? Should I put crushed coral then live sand on top? I don't plan on converting to a REEF yet but should I top it off with the reef sand Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand
This is what i have now: Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reed Sand
10 lbs. 0.5 - 1.7 mm diameter grain size Thanks