Fishkeeping - dsb clarification

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dsb clarification

Some of you had recommended a dsb for lowering nitrates and i said the lfs
told me not to. I said something about nitrogen bubbles and... well i'm a
nubee and was basically talkin' out my bottom and this is what the lfs said.

Paraphrase: They only recommend 1" of a sand bed "on small tanks" due lack
of real-estate. He didn't say anything about borrowing animal releasing the
bubbles he said the borrowing animals "rasps" could expose the anaerobic
bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb. He did say something about
nitrogen bubbles but i don't remember the context.

I'm learning. Sorry for the confusion

I'm considering a dsb in my 45 gal tall tank as it has room. How many inches
do you suggest?

Jim

dsb clarification

jthread wrote:
Some of you had recommended a dsb for lowering nitrates and i said the lfs
told me not to. I said something about nitrogen bubbles and... well i'm a
nubee and was basically talkin' out my bottom and this is what the lfs said.

Paraphrase: They only recommend 1" of a sand bed "on small tanks" due lack
of real-estate. He didn't say anything about borrowing animal releasing the
bubbles he said the borrowing animals "rasps" could expose the anaerobic
bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb. He did say something about
nitrogen bubbles but i don't remember the context.

I'm learning. Sorry for the confusion

I'm considering a dsb in my 45 gal tall tank as it has room. How many inches
do you suggest?

Jim

Can I make one suggestion, having read a lot of your recent posts, and
that is maybe go and invest in a book - a really good one is "Natural
Reef Aquariums" by John H. Tullock - others might suggest other reads
but I have used this as a basis for my reef tank research and then
supplemented any questions I have with newsgroups such as this or
dedicated reef forums.

Gill

dsb clarification

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
jthread wrote:
Some of you had recommended a dsb for lowering nitrates and i said the
lfs told me not to. I said something about nitrogen bubbles and... well
i'm a nubee and was basically talkin' out my bottom and this is what the
lfs said.

Paraphrase: They only recommend 1" of a sand bed "on small tanks" due
lack of real-estate. He didn't say anything about borrowing animal
releasing the bubbles he said the borrowing animals "rasps" could expose
the anaerobic bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb. He did
say something about nitrogen bubbles but i don't remember the context.

I'm learning. Sorry for the confusion

I'm considering a dsb in my 45 gal tall tank as it has room. How many
inches do you suggest?

Jim

Can I make one suggestion, having read a lot of your recent posts, and
that is maybe go and invest in a book - a really good one is "Natural Reef
Aquariums" by John H. Tullock - others might suggest other reads but I
have used this as a basis for my reef tank research and then supplemented
any questions I have with newsgroups such as this or dedicated reef
forums.

Gill

oh i already have books. i like to be social and learn this way. you should
probably just killfile me if i'm annoying you. seems most folks don't mind.

dsb clarification

jthread wrote:

oh i already have books. i like to be social and learn this way. you should
probably just killfile me if i'm annoying you. seems most folks don't mind.

Nope you don't annoy me - why would you?....and I'm enjoying and
learning from the replies that you are getting.....just thought the book
recommendation might be helpful as your LFS seems to be giving you
strange info and being armed when going into the conversation might help
you get the correct info rather than the off the cuff advice that is
often given if the staff think you know nothing....but hey, ho....up to
you - and yes of course asking questions here also help the learning
process and also has the social interaction side as a plus

Gill

dsb clarification

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
jthread wrote:

oh i already have books. i like to be social and learn this way. you
should probably just killfile me if i'm annoying you. seems most folks
don't mind.

Nope you don't annoy me - why would you?....and I'm enjoying and learning
from the replies that you are getting.....just thought the book
recommendation might be helpful as your LFS seems to be giving you strange
info and being armed when going into the conversation might help you get
the correct info rather than the off the cuff advice that is often given
if the staff think you know nothing....but hey, ho....up to you - and yes
of course asking questions here also help the learning process and also
has the social interaction side as a plus

Gill

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post. I see what you mean by my LFS. The guy I
talk to is a very nice guy from Okinawa. Well meaning and I think my
nubeeness is compounding the issues.

It's interesting separating the wheat from the chaff. The good news is the
result has been less water changes and healthier water. I'm confident enough
now to slowly start buying inexpensive corals again.

It seems this field is full of different ideas. Some probably born from
unusual isolated incidents that may or may not apply to my situation.

My wife sits and reads books until the cows come home and she lost us a
small fortune in coral. Seems I can get right to the root of the problem
here. :-)

dsb clarification

jthread wrote:

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post. I see what you mean by my LFS. The guy I
talk to is a very nice guy from Okinawa. Well meaning and I think my
nubeeness is compounding the issues.

Well being a newbie myself (only having started around 14 months ago)
I'm still very much treading the same path as you.....most of the LFS
guys I have spoken to are very nice and some quite knowledgable but it
really helps to go in armed with a few facts and having researched
stuff....the book I suggested gives you a very good basis on the theory
on how to achieve what you are trying to do....variations from this are
obviously taken and I don't think I've followed to the letter but at
least I've been able to go in and have an educated discussion....

It's interesting separating the wheat from the chaff. The good news is the
result has been less water changes and healthier water. I'm confident enough
now to slowly start buying inexpensive corals again.

What corals are you looking at buying? Softies are easier for a beginner
and help build up confidence - zoos, mushrooms, xenia, star polyps are
very rewarding.....

It seems this field is full of different ideas. Some probably born from
unusual isolated incidents that may or may not apply to my situation.

But this is part of the fun :-)

My wife sits and reads books until the cows come home and she lost us a
small fortune in coral. Seems I can get right to the root of the problem
here. :-)

Well, that is good (I mean that you can get to the root of the problem
rather than your wife's loosing corals). I hit it really lucky in the
past few weeks and have found a hobbyist who has set up a small internet
business selling his stuff and he is very local. I spent a morning with
him last week and learnt far more in those few hours than any book or
LFS could have taught me, or indeed forum or newsgroup - it was like a
brain download of everything he knows and even then I reckon I only got
a fraction of it. I am now far more optimistic about getting to the
bottom of my algae problem on my new reef tank and very confident in the
advice he gave me....part of the reason being it confirms what I have
already read in the Tulloch book....

Newbie mistakes happen all the time.....I'm still making them because
I'm still a newbie to reef.....the key is to learn from them and move on...

Gill

dsb clarification

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
jthread wrote:

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post. I see what you mean by my LFS. The guy
I talk to is a very nice guy from Okinawa. Well meaning and I think my
nubeeness is compounding the issues.

Well being a newbie myself (only having started around 14 months ago) I'm
still very much treading the same path as you.....most of the LFS guys I
have spoken to are very nice and some quite knowledgable but it really
helps to go in armed with a few facts and having researched stuff....the
book I suggested gives you a very good basis on the theory on how to
achieve what you are trying to do....variations from this are obviously
taken and I don't think I've followed to the letter but at least I've been
able to go in and have an educated discussion....

It's interesting separating the wheat from the chaff. The good news is
the result has been less water changes and healthier water. I'm confident
enough now to slowly start buying inexpensive corals again.

What corals are you looking at buying? Softies are easier for a beginner
and help build up confidence - zoos, mushrooms, xenia, star polyps are
very rewarding.....

It seems this field is full of different ideas. Some probably born from
unusual isolated incidents that may or may not apply to my situation.

But this is part of the fun :-)

My wife sits and reads books until the cows come home and she lost us a
small fortune in coral. Seems I can get right to the root of the problem
here. :-)
Well, that is good (I mean that you can get to the root of the problem
rather than your wife's loosing corals). I hit it really lucky in the past
few weeks and have found a hobbyist who has set up a small internet
business selling his stuff and he is very local. I spent a morning with
him last week and learnt far more in those few hours than any book or LFS
could have taught me, or indeed forum or newsgroup - it was like a brain
download of everything he knows and even then I reckon I only got a
fraction of it. I am now far more optimistic about getting to the bottom
of my algae problem on my new reef tank and very confident in the advice
he gave me....part of the reason being it confirms what I have already
read in the Tulloch book....

Newbie mistakes happen all the time.....I'm still making them because I'm
still a newbie to reef.....the key is to learn from them and move on...

Gill

i get brain over loaded quick on new subjects like this. it's coming to me
slowly. i still wonder how i made it through school. after school i swore
i'd never read another book again.

we just got a nice size pale grass looking thing $20. the lfs said it was
very hardy. has a tiny tiny brittle star fish and a zoey bud so we got 3 for
the price of 1.

my wife has a book on order that is supposed to be "the new bible" of reef
tanks but it's yet to be finished. i'll let her read it and explain it to me
:) i don't know the name

a lot of the coral we lost was due to a rabbit fish. he kept nipping at them
until they finally gave up. the nitrate problem is pretty much a thing of
the past except i think i'm still having to change the water too frequently.

i think we're starting to get pretty good at this. we've got several mush
species, including some pretty exotic ones. my camera can't do them justice.
some have split to the point we are going to take some back to the store to
sell back.

i'm pretty sure we have just about every thing you mentioned and all is
healthy. i'm just trying to get my tanks where we only need to do water
changes once a month or so.

dsb clarification

i would go 3 inch, rocks can sink down into the sand so that you dont
lose any cieling room for taller rocks, and a 3 inch DSB in a 45 gal
would be alot more of a beneficial bio load than can be achieved with
a 2inch, and 1 inch is almost useless and WILL get disturbed as your
LFS says, having it deeper allow for better stratifying of the layers
eliminating this problem, and is important to keeping your rock
healthy. if you had a 80 gallon or greated i would go 4-6 inch. you
can push back the front of the DSB to expose a bit more of the glass
as everyone has mentioned only seeing about 2 inches in the front if
that helps, but personally i liek a Deep sand bed, i have a 2.75 inch
in my 29 gal pod.