clownfishy
Member
is a sand bed of 2 inches deep enough or should it be deeper
is 2 inches enough
- Thread starter clownfishy
- Start date
T
thomas712
Guest
Depends on what you want to acheive.
In my case 2 inches is all I have in a 90 gallon. Works fine for me and its what I like. Mine is Southdown aragonite sand. Many fine particals that I believe do a limited amount of denitrifiying. Been 1 year up and running and no problems with the sand bed or nitrates.
Thomas
In my case 2 inches is all I have in a 90 gallon. Works fine for me and its what I like. Mine is Southdown aragonite sand. Many fine particals that I believe do a limited amount of denitrifiying. Been 1 year up and running and no problems with the sand bed or nitrates.
Thomas
bang guy
Moderator
My experience:
1/2" - Good for Biological filtration, Sand bed critters, Pods larvae.
1" - More sand bed critters, no improvement on filtration
2.5" - Starting point for denitrification. This varies with the size of the sand grains. Finer = shallower. The area under rocks can also denitrify due to low oxygen levels (anoxic).
8"+ - Starting point for Sulfur elimination. This requires anaerobic (no oxygen) areas. This can also happen under rock if the rock is large enough.
1/2" - Good for Biological filtration, Sand bed critters, Pods larvae.
1" - More sand bed critters, no improvement on filtration
2.5" - Starting point for denitrification. This varies with the size of the sand grains. Finer = shallower. The area under rocks can also denitrify due to low oxygen levels (anoxic).
8"+ - Starting point for Sulfur elimination. This requires anaerobic (no oxygen) areas. This can also happen under rock if the rock is large enough.
clownfishy
Member
can you explain more about denitrafieing my bed is made of southdown i might one day put corals in there if the 2 inch isn't deep enough to get anything out of it i will add more bout i don't want any more than 3 imches in there
tagg
Member
Originally posted by Bang Guy
Very fine grains of sand (sugar sized or smaller) restrict water flow more than larger grains. This means that not as much sand is needed to create an anaerobic area.
Bang...
So do you think I should stop at 2" with my silica sand beds? Some are at 1" and some 2"
Thanks..... Tagg
clownfishy
Member
So I guess what I am asking bang is do I need another 1/2 inch to my south down bed or is it deep enough
T
thomas712
Guest
Originally posted by jwtrojan44
Shmuck QuasimodTro
007
Active Member
Originally posted by Bang Guy
Very fine grains of sand (sugar sized or smaller) restrict water flow more than larger grains. This means that not as much sand is needed to create an anaerobic area.
Furthermore, the finer the sand grain, the more surface area for bacteria to grow.