What is the purpose of the deep sand bed?

Charliegrs

Reefing newb
When I ever get around to building my tank, Im going to include a sump with a refugium. I want to put to a DSB in it with some live rock and Chaeto. But Im curious, what is the purpose of the DSB? Is it just a way to anchor the rock and chaeto? Does it do some kind of filtering? Am I supposed to put some kind of sand stirring invert in there?
 
Bacteria that convert nitrates to nitrogen gas live in an anoxic environment, since they are anaerobic. The DSB needs to be deep enough to create this anaerobic environment -- so at least 6 inches deep, preferably 9 or more. Using a DSB to reduce nitrates is sometimes referred to as NNR (natural ntirate reduction). Otherwise, the easiest ways to remove nitrates are to use macroalgae and water changes.

DSBs used to be more popular than they are anymore. It seems there was a tendency for them to crash after a while, and they caused some tanks to crash. No one is really sure why.

If you are going to use one, it's best to have it separate from your main tank, that way it's easier to maintain. In a fuge is fine. You should still have some nassarius snails to keep the top layer stirred up, but they are not going to get deep down in the sand.
 
Bacteria that convert nitrates to nitrogen gas live in an anoxic environment, since they are anaerobic. The DSB needs to be deep enough to create this anaerobic environment -- so at least 6 inches deep, preferably 9 or more. Using a DSB to reduce nitrates is sometimes referred to as NNR (natural ntirate reduction). Otherwise, the easiest ways to remove nitrates are to use macroalgae and water changes.

DSBs used to be more popular than they are anymore. It seems there was a tendency for them to crash after a while, and they caused some tanks to crash. No one is really sure why.

If you are going to use one, it's best to have it separate from your main tank, that way it's easier to maintain. In a fuge is fine. You should still have some nassarius snails to keep the top layer stirred up, but they are not going to get deep down in the sand.

Oh ok so if DSBs arent that popular anymore what do people typically put in their refugiums, just a regular sand bed with live rock and chaeto?
 
Oh ok so if DSBs arent that popular anymore what do people typically put in their refugiums, just a regular sand bed with live rock and chaeto?

I didn't even put a sandbed in my new refugium, just some live rock rubble and an algae scrubber.
 
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