I hate my LFS

[andymi]

Well, I found a really great salt water only store that people travel far and wide to visit for their selection. Upon talking to some of the "guru's" at this place I found the system i had in place was less than adequate. The LFS failed to mention about gasses that can be created with a substrate of sand without a plenum and harmful bacteria that can fester there until they wind up emitting this gas and killing everything in site. With this in mind , I pulled everything out (luckily I didnt have much yet , being only 2 months in) and my g/f and I created a plenum at the bottom. We took 1/2" PVC pipe and ran it the length of the tank. Added an undergravel filter (i know..mixed emotions for most) with 2 power heads. I have seen and spoken to many people regarding wet/dry systems and truly do not see the big difference considering people say pull the bio balls out anyway. I create the plenum and added about 4-5" of sand and very fine coral to the substrate, and added about 40 more lbs of live rock taking me to about 70lbs in my 70 gallon tank. I hope this all works because I am not changing it again At the same time I figured I might as well buy the VHO's I wanted and bought the Ice Cap 660 ballast, 3 95 watt daylights and 1 blue acintic made by eagle distributing. I think the way it is working now will be much more natural using Caulerpa and more live rock. What do you guys think? I am sure there is mixed emotions, but looking around people's sites I notice not many seem to use the wet/dry filters.
--Andy

 

[burnnspy]

DO NOT connect the powerheads to the UGF, cap it off instead. If you don't I guarentee you will regret it in a year or less.
You will render the plenum useless and it will become aerobic, this will prevent the growth of anoxious bacteria and a nitrate reduction system.
It will turn into a nitrate factory in the near future.
BurnNSpy

 

[broomer5]

Well ....
I think you did good on the lighting.
Talking just of sandbeds now ...
If a sandbed is too deep you can run the risk of creating areas or pockets of no oxygen at all, or anoxic conditions, that can promote the growth of hydrogen sulfide producing bacteria. The hydrogen sufide gas can cause serious problems with fish and corals. If the depth of the sand is too shallow, you do not have any areas of low oxygen, which is where much of the final stages of the nitrogen cycle can be completed by the denitrifying bacteria.
The trick is to get the bed deep enough to encourage these denitrifying bacteria, but shallow enough to that some oxygen can still diffuse down to the lower levels of the bed.
Three to four inches of good aragonite sand seems to be the ticket.
Of course when you add all of the LR too ... you dramatically increase these areas for the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria to live.
There are a lot of different ways to run your tank, I suppose the guru's you spoke to have had good luck with their systems, and you've decided it's a good thing to try.
I've just never heard of doing a deep sand bed on top of an UGF and still using the powerheads. Seems like you would be defeating the purpose.
Just my opinion - I sure hope it works well for you.

 

[oozy]

honestly, i dont care what those jokers told me. i, being on a budget...would go with what people (like you and I) 's advise. mainly because we have nothing to gain from your failure. the store on the other hand has everything to gain...such as selling you more BS.
so i would pull the ugf. because i want to do things the right thing the first time, only because i hknow what i cannot afford...anyway
dont listen to me if you dont want...i dont know what im talking about just quite yet. but i do know that more then once i have been told things at my LFS that i have brought up here nd then went back to my LFS and said this wont work! that i would trust the peeps here.
for whats it worth.
-Bob-

 

[c marlowe]

Death by hydrogen sulfide is more an urban legend than reality. Energy production by cells in the anaerobic zones favor nitrates, whereas sulfate is favored in the lower oxygen free anoxic areas. In normal circumstances the production of hydrogen sulfide can actually be a benificial product of anoxia. The result of sulfide reduction (CO2 and organic acids) are used by other organisms to help create a diversified bed. In a well managed aquarium the sulfide zones will expand and shrink with the nutrient load. If nutrients are overloaded, then the bed may have the extremely rare sulfide eruption, but continued nutrient overloading will cause a tank to crash in any case regardless of the bed.

 

[mr . salty]

I have heard about these "erutpions" but have never seen,smelled,or talked to ANYONE who has ever actually had one. I believe that it is VERY UNCOMMON.
[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: MR . SALTY ]

 

[andymi]

Well I am sticking with what I have now. This salt water only store gave me this advice and I think I am going to stick with it since they have been in business for quite some time and all of their tanks use the same system. Here is what I essentially did to build the plenum.
1. Get 1/2 round PVC pipe cut in strips that are as wide as the tank.
2. Place UGF on tubes.
3. Place fiberglass fine mesh screening on top of UGF.
4. Place fine crushed coral , but not too fine as it goes through the mesh.
5. Place a little live sand on top of the crushed coral.
6. Add more live rock.
It seems this morning that everything is happier than ever before. The current is a little nicer with the 420's kicking some water around. I have talked to many people that visit this store for the last few weeks. Although some vary on wether they use aragonite, fine crushed coral or not. All have advised against the southdown play sand (unfortunately) and said go with the lineup that I have. Most of these people have been in the hobby or business for quite some time. One guy has had his tank setup the exact same way as mine is now, and has not had a problem for the last few years. Hope this helps, not trying to say your ideas are not good, I just think each person preaches about things they have had success with. This Salt Water store doesnt really sell hardware, just livegoods, so they had nothing to gain by telling me to change my system. Just my thoughts...thanks for the advice.
--Andy
BTW: When I say crushed coral maybe I am not stating it right, it is the Carib Sea Special Grade that I am using in the tank.
[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: andymi ]