the guy at my LFS told me this!!

jugger

jugger

Member
the guy at my LFS told me that a deep sand base is bad for a reef setup at Colorado altitude... is this true or is he full of it.... its odd none of their tanks in the shop have any sand in them not even the ones they have had setup for years on display.... i would like to have as much filtration as possible on my little 20 gallon...so i was thinking of 30-40lbs of sand and 30-40lbs of live rock plus skimmer
if anyone knows if this is true or false please do tell...
and if there is anyone in Colorado that has knowledge of this please help
thanks
 
bonermeister

bonermeister

Member
Sounds like BS to me, but I have nothing to back it up. Do some research, if you do not find any results I would say his story is crap. However, if you do find data to support his claim, post a link for us so we can check it out.
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
Hmmmmmmmm....I may be totally wrong here but I think the major problem with DSB's in Colorado is the tendacy of the keepers of the DSB to add toxic levels of COORS....but I may be wrong.(Life long Budweiser drinker here...so my opinion may be a touch tainted!)
Seriously...I live in New Mexico at just over 4000 feet above sea level...and my DSB's have been fine....no altitude problems here.Plus I've never heard of altitude associated problems with a DSB.:cool:
 
jferrier

jferrier

Member
Maybe he was thinking that since less oxygen is present in higher altitudes that anaerobic bacteria build up under deep sand beds might become excessive and produce toxic sulfur gases. Or then again maybe he is just full of it ?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I've never seen a study of the effect of altitude on a DSB. I strongly doubt it would make a significant difference.
However, I have studies and researched DSBs in small tanks and they are not beneficial long term. No problems and it certainly filters Ammonia but no better than a 1/2" sand bed.
 
josh

josh

Active Member
I agree, it's gotta be the coors. I guess my location has more to do with my tank success than I thought.
:)
 
kainrahl

kainrahl

Member
Up here in wyoming I am at quite a bit higher elevation than you most likely (unless you live on top of a mountain.) :} Anyway My DSB is doing very well so far, only had it set up for a couple of months though. Funny thing was I added a skimmer and the trates went up, But the skimmer is just breaking in so I assume that is why>?? any way go for it.
 
jugger

jugger

Member

Originally posted by jferrier
Maybe he was thinking that since less oxygen is present in higher altitudes that anaerobic bacteria build up under deep sand beds might become excessive and produce toxic sulfur gases. Or then again maybe he is just full of it ?
thats exactly what he said....so i geuss it makes sense but what should i do .... sand or not to sand.... im leaning towards sand... baised apon what is working for everyone else....(WY)
btw... Coors does suck and i piss in the river upstream of Golded (where the brewery is) evertime i get a chance
 
jugger

jugger

Member

Originally posted by firecopemt
Almost everyone that I know uses a DSB without any problems.....myself included. Have you checked outRocky Mountain Reef Club There are some pretty cool people there and membership is free.
thanks for the link..i was lookn for something local like that
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member

Originally posted by Bang Guy
I've never seen a study of the effect of altitude on a DSB. I strongly doubt it would make a significant difference.
However, I have studies and researched DSBs in small tanks and they are not beneficial long term. No problems and it certainly filters Ammonia but no better than a 1/2" sand bed.
My thoughts are said right here... sounds like BS from the LFS, and incidentally I have a shallow SB on my 10 and have not registered ammonia, trites or trates since setup. Go shallow IMO on a 20.
 
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