DSB(deep sand bed) care

valgae

valgae

Member
I've been searching through the threads and ran a few searches but i cant find info on how to properly maintain a deeb sand bed. i set mine up when i moved from a 50 to 65. So for about 6 months i have had 0 trates. yay. i don't have any snails or other hitchhikers i've banished to confinement to stir the sand in there up. can someone explain? maybe make this a sticky?
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
There's an article in Fish international this month about DSB's (at least, I think it's FI....check yer local B&N!). The author mentions the relative depth of a DSB as between 2-4 inches, and he talks about the pros and cons of keeping one in our home aquariums. One of the cons is, as you mentioned, stirring the sand periodically. In all honesty, stirring the sand is just something you're gonna have to do, especially without a sand crew. Is there a reason you're not running Nassarius snails or other sand stirrers? If you're doing a FO tank, I thounk you could consiter a golden sleeper goby or a diamond goby....both will help sift the sandbed. But in the end, you should probably be aware that you'll have to blow the sand with a baster once a month or so.
 
tdog7879

tdog7879

Member
I have been running a DSB for a little over a year. I do not stir the DSB or blast off the top of the SB....I do have 4 olive snails a couple of nasarian snail(cant spell) a sand star fish and all my hermets and regular snails and a brittle star. I let them do all the work.! I would not stir the sand by hand because your going to have a nitrate explosion!!
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I have a 3-4" sb in my 225g, and I don't stir it...I have 3 cleaner clams, some nassarius snails...some other types of snails, some hermits....Hopefully that is enough...Seems liek things are ok to me anyway.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by tdog7879
http:///forum/post/2966453
I would not stir the sand by hand because your going to have a nitrate explosion!!

I don't quite agree with this. While it's absolutely true if we were getting into the sand bed and really turning the sand over completely, I think the post originator was just blowing off the surface, getting the leftover detritus into the water column and/or mixing it into the top layer of sand. I've done that since I got back into the hobby, never had a nitrate explosion. But, like I said.....I'm just creating a sandstorm here, so to speak. I'm not shovelling my way through the sandbed.
I agree with you on the cleanup crew, though. Why do all that work if you have someone to do it for you? I don't think a sand sifting star is a good idea for a smallish tank, but the brittle stars, nassarius snails (I can't spell tonight either!) and other sand shifters are great for our tanks.
On a related note, has anyone tried to put a couple sand sifter crabs in their tank? Down here in FL they're known as sand fleas....get them by the dozen when you're fishing from the shore, but I noticed they sell them here at SWF!! I'm tempted to go down to the beach and catch a few, see how they do.....
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I got them from swf when they first came out...at first they were neat..they dove head first into the sand and then were GONE....LITERALLY...Within a few weeks they were all dead...
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
A diverse culture of sand bed infauna, and lots of waterflow is what keeps a sand bed healthy long term in my experience. You need a variety of small worms, snails, and pods. These animals do not stir the sand, they gradually introduce water to the deeper layers with their tunneling and movements, they consume detritus and bacteria.
IMO introducing a small amount of healthy live sand once a year or so can help maintain the diversity required.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/2967390
I got them from swf when they first came out...at first they were neat..they dove head first into the sand and then were GONE....LITERALLY...Within a few weeks they were all dead...
OK, this jives with what I've always understood about these buggers.....they're fringe animals, only found on the shoreline. I have heard from fishermen that if you keep an adult sandflea underwater w/o access to atmospheric O2 they will actually drown! They say only the really little ones are fully aquatic. Weird, huh? Of course, bear in mind this is secondhand hearsay and I've never tested it.... and now that I hear your experience, I don't think I'm gonna try.
 
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