How many inches

Diazreeflife · Nov 21, 2013

I know the rule of thumb is either 2 inch sand bed or 4 inch no in between no more no less. So what's the preferred sand bed thickness? Tell me what you like and why please?

Thank you
David

TarHeelReefer22 · Nov 21, 2013

Ive always gone with between one and two. The days of a deep four inch sand bed are over and will cause more problems than advantages. You run the risk of spikes if something distributes the sand and nitrates and all kinds of stuff can be released into the water column. If you are housing a fish that needs the sand like my wrasse does then I would go with something between one and two inches which is plenty for them to sift or sleep in and still allow it to be regularly turned over so that it isn't holding nutrients.

redfishbluefish · Nov 21, 2013

I've never heard this either 2 or 4....no in between. That's a first. My sandbed in the DT goes from approximately 2 inches toward either side to about a 1/2 inch in the middle of the tank. This is because of powerheads, a cucumber and life! I will state that I have a deep sand bed in the refugium.

Flameback Pair · Nov 22, 2013

Taking my sand out. It always looks dirty no matter how clean it is. I have no choice.

TarHeelReefer22 · Nov 22, 2013

In the sump yes deeper sand beds can be beneficial I even my self have a three inch bed in my sump and bare bottom tank above. I am also growing macros and I used mud not just sand. As a side not to the poster please don't put mud from your yard in the sump this is a product made for salt water macros.

Dog Boy Dave · Nov 22, 2013

I love hearing that the days of sand beds are over. I have one 7 inch deep sand bed with very fine sand in most of a 75 gallon sump. It has been running for over six years. I also have a 46inch by 46 inch 5 inch deep sand bed in another sump. I know a lot of old timers that still use remote DSB for nitrient export. I also know many who dont any more but rumors of it's demise are ...The depth of the sand bed is important and the size of the sand is also very important. The location of the sand and what you have it stocked with is also very important. Change any of these variables and you change the entire character of your sandbed. Rather than try to explain the science of deep sand beds, I would direct you to review some of the papers and articles written by Ron Shimek's Website...Deep Sand Beds . He is the man when it comes to DSB theory. Granted not many of us do it this way anymore, but if you take the time to learn the theory and dont want to run an ULNS then deep sand beds are effective and many of us still do it the old way. Do they work? Here is my tank you decide.

Dog Boy Dave · Nov 22, 2013

TarHeelReefer22 · Nov 25, 2013

Thanks for the pics and input! That tank does indeed look great and maybe in the long run a deep sand bed has more cons but I'm mostly interested in how many issues you had early on like lets say parameter fluxs in the first year or so. Also you mentions in sump where I think we can all agree is ok to have a deep sand bed.

GHill762 · Nov 25, 2013

I shoot for 1-2 inches.. enough to be just above the black trim at the bottom..

Dog Boy Dave · Nov 25, 2013

TarHeelReefer22 said:
Thanks for the pics and input! That tank does indeed look great and maybe in the long run a deep sand bed has more cons but I'm mostly interested in how many issues you had early on like lets say parameter fluxs in the first year or so. Also you mentions in sump where I think we can all agree is ok to have a deep sand bed.

It was never a good idea to put deep sand in your main tank. Its even worse to fill it with aragonite. The problems in those systems were not so much cycling problems. They usually did well for a couple of years. Long term after a couple of years they often began to have issues. It's almost impossible to maintain and manage an active DSB in a tank with high flow, lots of rocks and predators. If you must have sand in your main tank then it is probably better to make it very fine and as shallow as you can manage. If its just sand in your main tank then you do want to try to keep it clean. However, sand in your main tank is not a DSB. If you do have deep sand in your main tank, it's probably not a good idea to disturb your sand if it's more than a couple of inches deep and just fallow in your main display. The best thing to do in that scenario is to remove it all and replace it with a shallow cover of sand if you need it for looks. If you have wrasses you might consider placing your sand in a container rather than allowing it to gather behind your rocks. For those that might want to explore an option to the curent trend of ULNS the link i posted does contain information about how to set up and maintain a proper DSB. by definition they are almost always "remote" as the logistics of maintaining one in an active SPS/predator fish scenario are overwhelming for most.