2-3" LSB worth it???

[ahoowahoo]

I'm in the process of curing LR and I'm thinking of putting in LS when the process is complete. My question is, if I only want 2-3" of LS is it worth it? I know if you want to do LS (DSB) right it should be 4-6" deep. The issue is that I'm only setting up a 50g tank and since it is so small I don't really want to fill it nearly 1/3 full of sand (especially w/75# of rock already curing).
Thoughts anyone??
AW

 

[wrigley11]

The sandbed in my tank is only about 3 inches and everything is fine. I still have the look and nothing really bad has happened to the sand bed as of late... sure your doing to lose some of the benefits -filtration- of the DSB but your lr and other filtration devices can make up for that.

 

[diatom]

Wriggly is right, you will lose the benefits of the sand as a filter, and it really is a much more affective filter then the LR, but if you want it only for looks it won't hurt anything.
Another option is a plenum. I have never set one up but I believe they take up less of the bottom space...maybe Burn will correct me here.

 

[fshhub]

if you must not have a dsb, at least make sure it is as fine a grain as possible aragamax is superfine(almost if it wer designed with small beds in mind), and cheaper than ls, you could still seed with one bag of ls on top
oh yeah my lfs doesn't use more than a dusting and he has healthier fish than i have seen anywhere, his logic is a skimmer and lr, just 1/2 inch for asthetics. he is one lfs i may listen to, and I am refferring to his display tanks taht i am referring to, not the ones he uses to house fish for sale the one has been up for several years(according to local rumor)
[ December 15, 2001: Message edited by: fshhub ]

 

[ebeckels]

my ls is about 3 inches deep however i have the aquafuge hang on refugium... in there i have 5 inches of live sand and some LR rubble and some macro algae...
-Eric

 

[option720]

Many companies make the claim that you can have complete denitrification in less that two inches of sand if it is really fine sand. I think this is possible, but you also want the bed deep enough to allow critters to have enough room to move around. At my LFS i have seen some great tanks too, keep in mind they have the time to fiddle with them all day to make them lookh that great. The DSB will cut down on maintence.
I'm out.

 

[diatom]

Option~
I'd be interested in seeing who claims that. the only people that I've seen recommend a sand bed under 4 inches (the minimum recommended by Dr. Ron) is with a Mircle Mud system, and thiat is a diffrent creature entirely.
The reason for the depth of the sand bed is for the purpose of denitrification that only takes place deep within the sand.
HTH,
D~