Managing Deep sand bed + high flow

[SteveG_inDC]

Please don’t talk me out of this because I want to make it work but has anyone else successfully managed to keep a deep sand bed with high flow?

I am playing around with power head position and angles and would love some advice. Trial and error is taking too long. I’m ok with highly uneven but hoping to avoid “partial bare bottom”. It’s bad enough I have male pattern baldness. I don’t want my tank to have that look.

also, it’s a 6’ peninsula so if I can initiate all flow from the overflow that is ideal. I currently have a tunze stream 6255and dual mag 12 returns. New 240g tank. Looking to go mixed reef with more SPS over time.

wanting both sps and biodiverse microfauna in the sand bed is my ambitious goal. I have some coarser sand so maybe I could add that to the mix not sure how well that will work

Current configuration

 

[Subsea]

Steve, I ran a Jaubert Plenum with a 6” DSB on top.. I ran that system for 22 years until 3 years ago. Media was much courser which allowed detritus to accumulate even with high flow. A dsb should be a sink for nutrients and a source of live food for the tank. The reason for the depth and larger media in Jaubert Plenum dsb was to create an extended low oxygen zone for facultative bacteria to maximize de-nitrification. In mature systems, keeping up with nitrogen requirements is a normal requirement, not denitrification.

So, I ask you, why a deep sand bed. What do you want to accomplish with deep?

Build Thread - 25 year old 75G Jaubert Plenum on top with 30G EcoSystem Mud/Macro

The tank has seen little change in 25 years. Jaubert Plenum was designed to use facultative bacteria in a low oxygen environment to perform denitrification biochemistry. Substrate was 6” deep with false bottom making a Plenum under substrate. Plenum performed well until the introduction of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Garf]

I had a 4 to 6 inch sand bed for 7 years. When I broke that tank down there was no to very little crud. It was a play sand bed though, so may not be relevant. Good luck bud.

Edit - sorry, 9 years.

 

[WheatToast]

I've heard that sand grains should become less "mobile" as they get coated with bacteria in a maturing tank and become heavier. In my experience, this works to a degree (I always had sand hills with fine sand and high flow in my tanks, but they became shorter over time).
You might also consider planting "sand-rooted" macroalgae and plants, such as Caulerpa prolifera and Thalassia testudinum, to combat shifting sand. However, I have never attempted this.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324019900204?hash=item4b71174f2c:g:8VkAAOSwSwdd~nvs
https://aquaticusplants.com/shop/ols/products/thalassia-testudinum
Edit: Just realized this thread is a year old. Still hope this may help... somehow.