New tank set up

[fishyfishy]

I`m in the process of setting up a 100 gal reef tank. i have a plan to use a deep sand bed filter with a plenum. I have a 40 gal. tank now with a DSB/Plenum.Its 4 yaers old and the only problem i`ve had is occasional slime or brown alge growing on the sand. IN the new tank i planed on placing the DSB In the sump. THe problem is the area of the sump(40" x 15")is not large enough to get the area that i wanted (573"). every thing i`ve read on the subject says you sould have a min. of 67% of the area of the main tank.THe 573" gives me only 53%. I`m open for any ideas or comments.I do have 1 idea,to place a small area of dsb in the main tank by using 2 small plastic contianers i found that are 12" x 14" x 5" tall and could be concealed under the live rock (with the live rock suspended directly abve the rock to create a cave like appearance.Ok exsperienced reefers lets have it. Waht do you think will this work?I welcome any ideas ,comments,ideas,help and advise.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

You should buy several snaiils & sepent stars & hermit crabs which conside that a food source. let me know what happens.

 

[BillyZ]

how are the nitrates in your current tank with the plenum?

General consensus on this board is to avoid the plenum as it works against the bacteria that will naturally reduce the Nitrates. If your going for a FO tank then the nitrates aren't as big of a concern; but if your going for a reef, which it sounds like you are, you'll want your natural filtration to be as efficient as possible.

as far as the surface area of your DSB, how much LR do you plan on putting in the tank? 200+ pounds of LR plus a DSB in your sump (perhaps refugium is the way to go) should be alright.

 

[gooyferret]

fishyfishy why are u not wanting the LS in the main tank? Are you going to just have a glass bottom? Maybe i dont understand your post....Plz explain

 

[alrmc4]

i would discourage a bare bottom myself one rock falling just right with no buffer and 100 gal of water on the floor would be my concern.imo

 

[fishyfishy]

for those who replied to my post thank you. It has been so long since i posted the note with no reply i had forgotten about it. As for the question on my nitrates, they run 0 to 20 or basically no nitrate problems.Also note i have no nitrites or ammonia and my PH stays above 8 to 8.3 using only a small amount of buffer in my replacement RO water.The reason i wanted to keep the sand out of the main tank is to eliminate the occasional problem with the allege growing on the sand bed.I did however plan on having a small amount of sand on the bottom of the main tank which i could vaccum to remove any allege.I had planed to start with about 100 lbs of live rock in the main tank and planned to have some live rock in the sump.(The sump is due to arrive next week).Since I haven`t gone to far with this,I may possibly consider not using the DSB,but so far it has worked well with the small tank i have and i don`t even have a protein skimmer on this tank.Another plus so far with this system is maintenance or should i say the lack of,just regular small water changes about 2-3 gals. per week.

 

[JJCRIC]

I had the same problem with my DSB I tried snails hermits Etc with no luck I got myself a Banded Goby about 2.5-3" long cleaned the whole surface of my sand bed in my 125 gal in 2 days all by himself. also make sure you are cleaning out the cup in your skimmer everyday. But the easiest short term solution is to just suck out the top layer when you do a water change and get that stuff out. I went though that problem for 5 months before I got that work horse.