This is a dedicated rfuge. There will be no fish, stars, gobys or sifters of any kind. I think you misread my post. Or shimeks article. these are taken from the article which is the instruction booklet I used to build my dsb. Right down to the hard to find oolitic marine white #0 sand.
"Note the coarse material, the GARF grundge, to the right on the sediment surface. The large particles in this acted to reduce the worm access to surface and eventually caused sediment clumping to occur. Upon removal of the large fragments, the clumping disappeared. Right. The front of the same tank. Note the worm tubes extending from the surface of the sediment through the oxygenated layer. Movement of worms in these tubes pumps water into the lower levels preventing them from becoming completely anaerobic, and facilitating the biological filter."
"Fortunately, prevention of sediment clumping and the simultaneous maintenance of optimal biological filter operation is easily done by the establishment of a healthy and diverse sediment dwelling fauna, or "infauna." The infauna, so-called as the FAUNA lives IN the sediments, is a very diverse array group of wonder-working organisms. Unfortunately, they are small, and are not particularly attractive. Like Rodney Dangerfield, "They don't get no respect." And, that is a pity, as they do most of the work in keeping any reef tank functional.The infauna are "the clean-up crew" and the "reef-janitorial" staff, and the array found in a successful tank may be DIVERSE! More than 200 different species commonly are found living in a mature sand bed. These include many types of flatworms, round worms, dozens of species of bristle worms, small snails, brittle stars, small sea cucumbers, protozoans, and many types of small crustaceans. The total populations may be immense. I have done sampling to measure the abundances found in the 45 gallon tank I mentioned earlier, and the number of animals larger than half a mm, or about one fiftieth of inch, in that tank ranges from 90,000 to 150,000 depending on what part of their population cycle the various species are in."
Just in case. So far it seems to be working. I have a fantastic pod population. Both amphi and copa. As well as a lot of worm movement. I just want to make sure it is diverse. I have no bristles and few spaghetti. The bubbles are there though. So its working.
