Tank setup

[KahluaZzZ]

I wanna have a DSB, but looking at my cube shaped tank, having a 4" + DSB seems like a waste of space. My 29 g sump will contain the hardware to the right, some chaeto to the left. The sump is drilled to the left with a ball valve (an old in-line return line) so i could have a secondary 5 or 10 g sump filled with sand + a separate section for the return pump. My question is..will it be enough or should i really have the DSB in the tank ?
There is this new "barebottom"-like option.. you put some GE 1500 silicon on the bottom of the tank and use a fork to create grooves..then put a small amount of sand on top and it'll glue. Then use a vaccum and take out the unglued sand particles.
Pretty neat but not good when you sell you tank 'cause it's pretty permanent.

Kitten wanna drink the wet skimmate...

 

[Lotus]

I run my tanks with shallow sand beds. One has a DSB in the refugium, but it's a small area, and I don't think it's terribly effective. However, I don't have nitrate problems in either tank.

You can definitely do a remote DSB. I think the recommended size is at least 10 percent of the surface area of the main tank.

 

[TRe]

personally i wouldnt even worry about it

 

[Lorna]

Check out wetwebmedia on sand beds. There is a great article there on the correct depths of sand beds. If you are using a very fine oolitic sand you can have a working denitrifying sand bed with as little as 2 inches. which in a cube is nice and that is what I am planning for my new tank.

 

[TRe]

im seriously considering going barebottom

 

[KahluaZzZ]

Tnx 4 the input guys
2 inches? Wow really fine sand to get anaerobic bacterias...i'll check out this sand.
Well Tre in this case you should check out the silicon trick, it's prettier than barebottom, unless you stack pile every inch of glass.

 

[Lorna]

you can also use starboard.....for the bottom as I have seen this used frequently in bare bottom set ups. The only draw back to bare bottom is having sufficient flow to keep all the detritus in suspension to be skimmed out.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

starboard to cover the glass/ protect when rocks fall?

 

[Lorna]

sort of it is a white board that you can glue sand to and cut to fit the dimensions of your bottom.....

 

[KahluaZzZ]

which is less permanent than the silicone trick
I might opt for the very fine sand, my 2nd sump cracked while handling ( very cheap used tank ) and i have to put a coralife 3004 (got it 4 free) in the present sump..the Deltec is very efficient for his size, but i doubt it can handle 80g on its own. Maybe i'll use 2 skimmers.