dsb

[itchy]

okay guys there is some controversey here over dsb. I personally have had a bad experience with a 6" dsb that had been in my tank for about 3.5 to 4 years. The sand on the bottom did not get moved around as that on the top. When sand does not get moved around it hardens, when sand hardens it expands therefore my tank ended up on the floor one afternoon. With my new tank I have only put in 40 lbs in a 75 gal. and yet there is still controversy with this! I have had this discussion on here with other people and wondering what others felt. Has anyone had trouble with their sand and if so how much sand do you have? I dont think I have enough to worry about with this tank bursting but now I am told I should watch for ammonia and carbon dioxide levels, any advice?

 

[bang guy]

You need worms and other sand infauna to move the sand around. If you can't see worms against the glass then your sand bed is not live enough.
Guy

 

[fshhub]

surely somebody must have some info that could help here.
This being what ti is, must have more than one victim. I too am curious to find out.

 

[saltwaterdave]

I have been reading alot here lately about dsb.I have read that you need to add worms and other sand infauna once a year to keep the sand bed alive,repopulate it I suppose. I have also seen where some people actually replace part of their sand beds every so often.They will replace small sections of it at a time. I have crushed coral in one ofmy tanks and have been thinking about changing it to a dsb,but with all the talk about the sand beds going bad I think I won't try to fix what is'nt broken.Some people will argue that only the top layer of the sand bed first 2 or 3 inches actually benefit from the worms and such,so alot of people are using the more shallow sand bed.It seems to me that a dsb can be a double edge sword so to speak.

 

[peasly1]

itchy... did you have lr in the tank and what else was in there,what kind of sand did you use and from where..never heard of this before,just wondering...

 

[arkman]

Has this "expansion explosion" happened to anyone else? I've seen the hard clumpy sand while breaking down old tanks.

 

[dubba-r]

I dont get how the expansion of the sand could cause the tank to explode. IMO, the water concealed inside the tank would put a greater pressure to cause such an explosion. Maybe there was a crack somewhere and it continued to grow? Never heard this though until now.

 

[sal t. nutz]

Well, I have to chime in here. I am getting ready to put a sand bed in my 300, and I am debating with myself. I can get Aragonite sand real cheap near my house, but I am contimplating getting regular Silica Playsand anyway. My reason is this. While Aragonite is calcium carbonate based and breaks down for the good of the tank, high alk and Calcium is what makes this sand clump and harden. While silica based sand will not clump and harden like that. I am torn, and can't decide. Logic would dictate that, when the Calcium carbonate sand hardens and clumps like Southdown and Aragonite sands, it would no longer help to remove Nitrates, as it would no longer be an Oxygen poor area. There would be NO cirulation and it would just be a dead zone. This wouldn't happen with silica sands, they would always have a de-nitrification area.

 

[itchy]

sorry it has tanken so long to get back to this post been out of town. Okay to answer some questions. I had argonite sand about 1.5 lbs per gallon in a 75 gallon so about a 4 to 5 in base. yes there was Lr in this tank as well about 75 lbs worth. Now two of the gentlemen I deal with locally suggest only enough sand to cover the bottom of the glass. In my 75 I have now I have 40 lbs and they are suggesting I take out half of it. I am not having any problems now other than a couple of angels with ICH. The reasoning behind using less sand is that eventually my nitrates will sky rocket due to the fact the sand is not getting sifted as it should. The other is the carbon dioxide will go up cutting down on the oxygen in the tank. It took about 4 to 5 years for my other tank to become a problem. I had problems with nitrates but nothing I didnt think was normal at the time and nothing that couldn't be fixed with water changes. I never thought my sand would harden and expand enough to cause the tank to burst. I had no leaks that I was aware of. I think this may answer all the questions. I dont know, all I know is I want to be safe than sorry. I am in no hurry to remove this excess sand but probably will in my next water change.

 

[bang guy]

"high alk and Calcium is what makes this sand clump and harden"
IMO bacteria combined with a lack of sand infauna causes clumping. Not Ca lavels nor ALK levels.
Silica based sand will clump just as easy as aragonite.