Deep Sand Bed..... in the rear sump?!

[pompeyjohn]

Okay, so I am not thinking of doing this. But the thought just crossed my mind, so throwing it out for discussion.

I think most folks would agree that deep sand beds work.... but they have a finite lifetime. Well I am just guessing here that most AIO tanks here are not running for more than three years before being broken down. Which I am guessing would be before a DSB goes bad.

So a lot of AIO tanks that have two overflows have the same inverted T pattern for filtration, where there is a center column for the return pump, and that stretches underneath each overflows filtration area.

How about we fill all that with sand?! It would mean the return pump would sit higher (and on the sand... hmm) but would give you a pretty huge DSB compared to the size of the display tank.

of course it would be a pain to remove.... and I am not sure how you'd keep sand out of the return pump. But anyway. Just a wild thought....

 

[Ron Reefman]

I ran a DSB on a 425g system for 6 years and never had any issues. But I don't have one on my new system that is a 90g tank and a 30g sump/fuge. IMHO it needs to be big in surface area and deep. The one I had was 24x24x8 and located after a fuge full of macro aldae and before the skimmer. But I also don't think a DSB in an AIO tank system will be nearly big enough to do much, if any, good.