plenum?

[bryce.martin23]

i just got a 210 gal tank today and the previous owner who kept a reef tank was telling me about this thing called a plenum. I have never heard of such a thing but what he tells me is this. At the bottom of your tank you take some egg crate or some sort of plastic sheeting that will allow water to flow through and attach pvc pipes to the bottom of the crate, the pvc pipe will allow the crate to stand or what he calls hover above the bottom glass, then you take a sheet of nylon screen used for screen doors and lay it on top of the raised egg crates, once you have layed two or three sheets of the screening down you then add a course sand to allow water to flow through the sand, through the screen, and down to the bottom of the tank. As far as he told me the reason for this is that there is a bacteria that likes dark areas that is way more benificial that what is in the live sand alone. Im not too sure if i even explained it well but i was wondering if anyone here has done this or has even heard of this. He gave me a couple of Saltwater mags to read up on them and they have a part 1 and 2 in two seperate mags. Just wondering if its worth all the trouble to set up.

 

[fishkid13]

I have also heard of this setup. It is suppose to be great for bacteria to grow. I have a book that talk about it, would qoute it but don't know if that is allowed?

I would also like to learn more about this.

 

[fishkid13]

I have read up on it and well.. it is very confusing.
It is suppose to be great at NNR (nature nitrate reduction)/deniritafition. This is achived by having a chamber were it has close to zero oxgen. Correct me if I am wrong with anything. Under the pleum or around it makes I deal spots for denirtratifcation bactera to grow.
But to achive this you need to get everything just right. If you don't have a deep enough bed or something lose it could possible cause your tank to crash. So I would take it as a gambe, ethier have a big win or a big loss. Again correct me on anything.

 

[bryce.martin23]

thats what i have been getting out of all of this as well, i also heard that if you do have everything dialed in you still run a chance of the bacteria leaking toxins into the water for no aparent reason. The previous owner swore by this method but im not to keen on this idea the more i read about it

 

[kspops]

There was a site that had the information on this set-up. It is called a Morocco System if I remember correctly, or the "inventors" name is something like Jauressea ? I may be off on the spelling.
I am giving this a try in my 135G system. But I think I may need to do more research...

 

[windlasher]

Originally Posted by fishkid13
http:///forum/post/3083968
I have read up on it and well.. it is very confusing.
It is suppose to be great at NNR (nature nitrate reduction)/deniritafition. This is achived by having a chamber were it has close to zero oxgen. Correct me if I am wrong with anything. Under the pleum or around it makes I deal spots for denirtratifcation bactera to grow.
But to achive this you need to get everything just right. If you don't have a deep enough bed or something lose it could possible cause your tank to crash. So I would take it as a gambe, ethier have a big win or a big loss. Again correct me on anything.
do you have a link? I probably wont do it, but it sounds interesting.

 

[fishkid13]

Sorry no link. I just googled "aquarium plenum" and just click on some of the things. If you google image "aquarium plenum you should get some good pic's, tip, don't go all the way to full picture but the site that it is on and you will get good information.

 

[smartorl]

Sounds a bit like the undergravel filter of old with a few modifications.

 

[windlasher]

Originally Posted by smartorl
http:///forum/post/3084412
Sounds a bit like the undergravel filter of old with a few modifications.
yeah.. thats the thing. all that bacteria waiting to explode into your tank.

 

[kspops]

The system I was referring to is actually the Monaco or Jaubert's method. There is an article on another site where I saw the system explained. Just search for Monaco system or Jaubert's method.

 

[hlcroghan]

I believe this is just another way of do ing a DSB. Ideally you would do this in your sump. You could make it easier on your self and just stack some egg crate and pour the sand in on top of it so that the lower layers couldn't be affected or moved around. You would just have to make it really thick, like 5 inches or something.