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

he said the borrowing animals "rasps"
could expose the anaerobic
bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb.

That's stupid.

Yes a 45 is a small tank, but I'd put it at least 2
inches. Just keep in mind that the deeper you make
it , the better, but the deeper you make it, the
more space it will take up. I like to make it
shallower in the front, and deeper in the back. Use
a nice fine calcium sand.

Wayne Sallee




jthread wrote on 11/4/2007 2:50 PM:
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

"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
he said the borrowing animals "rasps"
could expose the anaerobic
bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb.

That's stupid.

Yes a 45 is a small tank, but I'd put it at least 2 inches. Just keep in
mind that the deeper you make it , the better, but the deeper you make it,
the more space it will take up. I like to make it shallower in the front,
and deeper in the back. Use a nice fine calcium sand.

Wayne Sallee



thanks wayne, will do!



jthread wrote on 11/4/2007 2:50 PM:
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

Keep in mind that the frame of the aquarium will
cover up a portion of that depth, so it won't look
as deep as it is.

Wayne Sallee



jthread wrote on 11/4/2007 5:04 PM:
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
he said the borrowing animals "rasps"
could expose the anaerobic
bacteria and cause the ammonia to spike in a dsb.
That's stupid.

Yes a 45 is a small tank, but I'd put it at least 2 inches. Just keep in
mind that the deeper you make it , the better, but the deeper you make it,
the more space it will take up. I like to make it shallower in the front,
and deeper in the back. Use a nice fine calcium sand.

Wayne Sallee



thanks wayne, will do!


jthread wrote on 11/4/2007 2:50 PM:
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

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.

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

"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.

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

"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. :-)