DSB in a sump

wait a sec, i know it has to be atleast 4" deep but does it have to be like 12"x12"4" or wat ??????
 
I am not convinced they are worth the trouble, but that is just me. Good luck with it

-Doc
 
The theory behind DSB's is sound and Calfo has had success with them, so that was enough for me. I couldn't honestly tell you how well mine is working or what impact it is having, but I am hoping it is doing something.
 
Would the water spend enough time in the sump to get treated by the dsb? or is that even the way it works? If so that would be sweet to only have a little sand in the dt.
 
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The idea behind the RDSB is that it can be placed in the refuge to reduce nitrates instead of in the display tank so the display doesn't have all the sand. Water that is passed slowly over the DSB in the fuge is going to have nitrate pulled from it to feed the anaerobic bacteria that are in the DSB.
 
RDSB are often kept entirely for nitrate removal, with no introduction of critters or macroalgae. Light is excluded from them and a good flow of water is flowed over them. A fast enough flow is kept running over them that no particulates settle on the sand. A two inch level of water is typically maintained over the sand. It is very commonly used by commercial coral growers for total nitrate removal. Calfo has introduced a lot of the commercial practices to the home reef tank keeper, through his books, public speaking and through being a contributor (moderator) on other larger reef sites. They in general work better than the standard practices of the home reef keeper, but aesthetics typically are not as important with commercial growers as they are with home reefers who have tanks in their living rooms and such. I run an in tank DSB in my home display tank, but all my growout and frag tanks have no sand or rock in them. Every thing supporting them is remote. Remote deep sand beds, remote refugium/sumps, remote skimmers. Very few pumps, but a lot of air used. I could not function efficiently without remote deep sand beds in my commercial tanks. And I am a small scale grower. I gurantee large scale commercial coral growers and fish breeders could not run there tanks the way a home reefer runs their tanks. Way too inefficient and therefore too prohibitively expensive for commercial use.
 
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yea i was goi to put down a little bit. but a DSB takes up so much room so i just wanted to know if it has the same purpose.
 
hey fatman simple terms, dont forget im still a newb.lol

Here:
-Remote deep sand bed good.
-It is used to reduce your nitrates.
-With lots of flow no detrius (CRAP) will not settle on it.
-You only need about 2 inches of water above it, and no light.
-The people who sell coral to the people you buy your coral from, use the same method.
-He(Fatman) has a deep sand bed in his main tank, but in his growout tanks he does everything remotely.(not in his display tank)
 
I run a DSB in my fuge. It serves the same purpose as having it in your main tank without the sand taking up space in your display.
 
I like deep tanks. My 30g tank is 24" deep --- BUT, the bottom 6" is full of sand, so my lights really only have to penetrate through 18" of water.

The 90g (not set up yet) is also 24" deep. I'll be running a 6--8" DSB in the DT. This will lower my costs on lights because I only need enough light to penetrate through 16--18" of water. I get the benefit of the DSB. An 8" DSB is WAAAAY better than the minimum 4". More stable IMO and does a better job at nitrate reduction.

Placing a DSB in the sump is a perfectly viable way to get nitrate reduction. Combined with some good macroalgae (cheato), it will usually produce a tank with minimal or zero nitrates.

I know a lot of folks don't like the DSB look in the main DT. I think it's cool. I know it gets ugly. I like the natural look of it. I like to see the dark spots and upper crusty layers of the DSB. Give my tank that "real" look. I don't think I could ever go with a bare bottom tank in my living room. I think it looks "sterile" and fake.

Now in the frag tank--you bet!! Bare Bottom all the way. But it's not supposed to look pretty. It's a "farm" and anybody who has even been on a farm or worked a farm knows--they ain't pretty.
 
A Deep sand bed in the tank is uually frowned on with a person who has a tank that is principally for corals as the corals really do not appreciate a lot of the critters that live in a deep sand bed. Plus there are more clumping/crusting issues with the DSB in the tank rather than having it remotely. Light elimination and detritus elimination lessens most of these clumping/crusting issues.
 
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