My remote sandbed

salt210

Active Member
This project started as I am looking for ways to help control nitrates in a semi aggressive soon to be reef. I already have a fuge and was looking for more ways to help. I came across people creating remote deep sand beds and thought what the heck. so this will be the diary of how things go. Before starting this the nitrates in the tank are between 20 and 30ppm. The tank was moved about 1.5 months ago, so not sure if they will stay there or not yet. water changes are to be done at 30g every other week. Before moving on I would like to thank everyone who help with giving me the info needed to start this project, that means you NATCLANWY!
 

salt210

Active Member
first off Ill list the equipment that I will be using and then show some pics. The container that the bed will be stored in will be a rubbermaid 18g clear container from Lowes. The RDSB will be feed from one of the over flows and then drain via a 1" bulkhead that I am currently waiting on to come in( this is what is holding me up). The bed will be sand purchased from Lowes as well listed as Quikcrete playsand #1113. The research that I did find on my own had people using this sand as it is very fine and easy on the wallet, but only time will tell how good it is.
 

salt210

Active Member
unfortunately this is it until the bulkhead fitting comes in and then I will update once more.
 

natclanwy

Active Member
Looks good, your sand should be fine just rinse it well before you use it. Also be careful how full you let the container get they like to fail if you fill them all the way.
 

salt210

Active Member
I havent reomved the sand from the bags yet, but it isnt even near the halfway mark yet. just got a call from the LFS and she said the bulkhead should be in on thursday. I plan to test the plumbing and what not before I put the sand in. how much space do you think that I should leave from the top?
 

salt210

Active Member
I believe that it is between 18 and 20in tall but not absolutely positive and it is in the bedroom closet where the wife is sleeping. Ill look in the morning to check for sure
 

spanko

Active Member
Probably won't need more that 6-8" deep sand level. We're sure this sand is okay to use huh? Would hate for you to go through all the work of setting it up only to have sand that may introduce silicates into your system and cause other problems.
 

salt210

Active Member
In researching I found that other people are using this sand(same item number) for their reef tanks as well. As for the depth could never find an exact answer, so I will try to get it to at least 8".
 

spanko

Active Member
Here is the basic stuff on them.
"A deep sand bed (sometimes abbreviated DSB) is a filtration method used in some saltwater aquariums. A deep sand bed, similar to the Berlin Method, is designed to cultivate anaerobic bacteria in the bottom layers of sand, converting nitrate to nitrogen gas to remove toxic nitrates.
[edit] Operation
A deep sand bed commonly is defined as a bed of fine sand with a minimum depth of 4 to 6 inches to ensure a layer of water in the lower portion of the sand will receive poor circulation. An established deep sand bed is composed of live sand which, like live rock, contains bacteria and other marine organisms such as worms, crabs, snails and stars. The creatures burrow and overturn the top 2 to 3 inches of sand in search of nourishment, which allows water circulation much deeper into the sand than would be possible without the creature's aid.
Deep sand beds can be constructed of a variety of materials, but typically fine or "superfine" sand is used, with a size between 1 mm and 0.05 mm. A larger particle size provides improved circulation, which would in turn require a greater depth. Comparatively, the larger particles may be too heavy for the worms and other inhabitants to lift, which would limit circulation into the bed. Additionally, larger particles (2 mm or larger) are prone to detritus accumulation, which would necessitate periodic siphon cleaning. A well-chosen fine grain sand will create a deep sand bed which reduces cleaning."
Your remote IMO should not be less than the 6" though.
 

salt210

Active Member
thanks for the info. I think that I might need more but didnt want to buy too much.
as for the height of the container the one I bought is the ONE that doesnt have the dimensions labeled on it, so I will have to find a measuring tape to see the exact height of it.
 

jdl

Member
you may want to do some more reading. On a site the mods will edit out of this post, they are talking about a new layer of bacteria in sand beds. I cant explain it exactly but they mention that dsp are bad and you can get the same effect using ssb.
 

natclanwy

Active Member
You will never get the same effect out of a shallow sand bed unless you can achieve anerobic conditions to support the growth of denitrifying bacteria, there are tons of horror stories about DSB's 95% of which I believe are caused by the operator because of poor livestock choices, inadequete flow, and the need to clean or disturb the sandbed.
I personally would not go more than 6" deep, the deeper the sandbed the greater the chances are for you to have a hydrogen sulphide gas producing zone. The zones occur when there is not sufficant nitrate to provide oxygen molecules to the anerobic bacteria, so they resort to pulling the oxygen molecule directly from H20 and then a sulphide attaches to the leftover Hydrogen molecule. There also is no gain in using a sandbed deeper than six inches all of the nitrate processing will occur in the first 6" whether your sand bed is 6" deep or 6 feet deep.
 

salt210

Active Member
Ill keep that in mind nat. I hope that the bulkhead does come in today. I wont to get this thing going. i have been fighting the urge to wash the sand since I bought it on monday.
 

salt210

Active Member
I didn't want it just sitting in the water. the bulkhead came in late today so I have to pick it up around 12 when they open
 
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