Cathic
Fish Wrangler
Liverock has been cycled for 2 hears, probably over 60 pds in the tank, it was fiji.
Stressed Fish
- Thread starter Cathic
- Start date
sen5241b
Reef enthusiast
There is a long list of stories about people who stirred up their sand and ended up getting an ammonia spike.
Sand detritus traps are an ongoing issue and I have never heard of a perfect solution to keeping sand from becoming a detritus trap --or even worse a hydrogen sulfide trap in the sand!
Good flow helps because it keeps crud in the water column so it can get caught be floss or carbon.
Anything that filters the water and keeps detritus from settling in the sand will help.
I have propped much of my rock up on hidden PVC and have a Koralia 1 pushing water under the rock.
I like to stir my sand in small sections every few days. Of course there are some areas of sand I cannot get to.
Some people have gone with sandless bottoms but the sand can hold a lot of beneficial bacteria.
This whole issue is why I do not believe in deep sand beds. The deeper the sand, the more potential there is for the whole thing to become a big detritus trap.
Sand detritus traps are an ongoing issue and I have never heard of a perfect solution to keeping sand from becoming a detritus trap --or even worse a hydrogen sulfide trap in the sand!
Good flow helps because it keeps crud in the water column so it can get caught be floss or carbon.
Anything that filters the water and keeps detritus from settling in the sand will help.
I have propped much of my rock up on hidden PVC and have a Koralia 1 pushing water under the rock.
I like to stir my sand in small sections every few days. Of course there are some areas of sand I cannot get to.
Some people have gone with sandless bottoms but the sand can hold a lot of beneficial bacteria.
This whole issue is why I do not believe in deep sand beds. The deeper the sand, the more potential there is for the whole thing to become a big detritus trap.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
+1 sen. That's why I don't understand, if you were already having problems with your sand, why did you switch it out for a deeper sandbed? You said your new sand was about 3 inches deep. That's the worst depth you can have. Anything between 1 inch and 6 inches is not deep enough to carry out nitrogen conversion as a deep sand bed, and is just a bad detritus and gas trap.
If your sand bed was 1 inch deep before, and already having problems, the last thing you want to do is make it deeper.
If your sand bed was 1 inch deep before, and already having problems, the last thing you want to do is make it deeper.
sen5241b
Reef enthusiast
It should be mentioned that there is a controversy over Deep Sand Beds DSBs. Some people swear by them but there are also some serious experts who say they don't help.
dcantucson
Reef pro
And some even say it doesn't matter either way.
Sorry Cathic for your losses. That really sucks when something like this happens.
Sorry Cathic for your losses. That really sucks when something like this happens.
