Sandbed in Sump

[Deezill]

hello R2R peeps,
I hope I am posting this in the correct forum if not forgive me. My question is I have had Sand and what is now Live rock in my Sump but do I really need sand in there? I want to eliminate any place for detritus and Dinos to build. I was thinking of putting some chaeto in there so I wanted to know what adverse effect would it have if I removed the sand and rock. I have rick and sand in DT already. my No3 & Po4 were undetectable until i started dosing. But what other ill effect would I run into by removing and just putting chaeto in there

 

[hijinks7]

The biggest effect is doing it too fast and causing a mini-cycle to happen mostly on the sand. Or removing all the rock at once and not having the bacteria population to handle the bio-load. Just do it very slowly over weeks or months (depending how much) and you'll be ok.

If you are worried about your bacteria and don't keep a lot of rock in your DT, then buy a marine pure block or two. They take up a lot less space and have a ton of surface area.

 

[Deezill]

I have 120lbs of sand in DT and 150lbs of LR in DT i have 15 to 20lbs of LR in sump and 25lbs of live sand in sump. I was not to sure how much effect it would have and I don't want any more cycling. Let me know. I should have stated how much or little I have in sump to begin with. my bioload is very light to the point dose for phosphates and I have to dose and feed 3 times a day to get some detectable nitrates.

 

[hijinks7]

I have 120lbs of sand in DT and 150lbs of LR in DT i have 15 to 20lbs of LR in sump and 25lbs of live sand in sump. I was not to sure how much effect it would have and I don't want any more cycling. Let me know. I should have stated how much or little I have in sump to begin with. my bioload is very light to the point dose for phosphates and I have to dose and feed 3 times a day to get some detectable nitrates.

Seems ok to remove all the rock one week and the next remove all the sand then. You could probably do it 3-4 days apart if you want to speed it up

 

[Deezill]

Seems ok to remove all the rock one week and the next remove all the sand then. You could probably do it 3-4 days apart if you want to speed it up

That sounds like a plan. Thanks. I will do just that.

 

[cracker]

How deep & how long has the sand been there. Is there any dark or black sand at the bottom? That's that's the stuff you want get out slowly.
If you can isolate the refugium from the rest of the system, You could take it all out at once Clean it out real good & refill with new water. Put the rock back in there. Just don't want any of the stuff in this sandbed to get into the rest of the system. What do Ya''ll think?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Is it bad not to have LR and sand in your fuge? I have both and run chaeto.

 

[Deezill]

I was just going to put some Chaeto maybe in the middle portion of the sump and make a fuge. I mean I could leave it as is
and get an algae turf scrubber for nutrient export.