Please Help ,alot of ???????

[Sharky]

Ok ' I have a 180 gal. tank ,about 15 pds. of LR and 60 pds. of base rock, I only have about 1 inch of sand bed is this ok for a fish only tank , or should I have a deep sand bed ? ( by the way what is the dif. between DSB and only 1 inch of sand , pros and cons ) I plan on later down the road adding more live rock . I only have NO lights for know but in the prosess of building a canopy with metal halide, 3, 400 watt lights and a couple of VHO or PC's . But for now it's only going to be a fish only tank.The tank has been going for about 4 mo. Im running a wet/dry filter ,a aqua clear protien skimmer , mag 7 pump and 2 801 Power heads. The critters I have so far are 1 yellow tang , 1 watchman gobey , 2 fire fish , 2 green emerarld crabs , 5 blue leg hermets , 5 red leg hermets , 6 turbo snials , 1 surpent star fish . The only problem I'm having at this time is diatom alge on the sand , I just added the hermets and the snials hoping it will help .

 

[loganj]

Basically with a shallow sand bed, you won't get any denitrification from the sandbed. The rock will remove some nitrates, but probably not enough to control them. You'll have to rely on water changes to keep nitrated under control. With the DSB, you will have anoxic areas in the sandbed that will remove nitrates. You'll need a variety of sand dwelling critters (pods, worms, ect...) to keep the DSB working. Many of these will hitch in on the LR...you can also seed it with LS from an established reef tank. There has been a good deal of discussion here and other places about DSB's. You might want to do a search here on "DSB" and read some of the posts. Then you can decide whether you want to go with one. The diatoms are normal for a tank that has finished the cycle. They will usually go away on their own in time. Are you using RO/DI water? If not, you may be adding silicates which is diatom fuel. Fighting conches seem to be fond of diatoms...you might try a couple of them. Be warned that they will get large and you may have to feed them later though. The lighting sounds great! If you make the switch to a reef, you're going to need more flow.

 

[Hara]

I am moving this to the general discussion area, it should get better exposure there.

 

[Sharky]

Ok , so if I add some more sand enough to make about a 5 inch sand bed , wont the sand that I already have in my tank be live sand ? Or do I have to get live sand from another sourse to add to the new sand ?

Will this DSB be alright for a fish only tank with some LR ? I plan on getting

more LR but its going to be later on down the road , I 'm trying to save the money to get more LR , more lights , and another pump (mag 18 ) Im planing on putting the mag 7 in the tank to make a spray bar . I think this will be enough flow . And yes I am only using tap water hopfully a RO unit down the road also , this tank is really drained my wallet 8O

 

[mojoreef]

YOu could simple go with the 1 inch of sand no probelm. If you do a monthly vacuuming of the sand bed you will not even have to worry about nitrate processing what so ever. In a FO tank nitrates are not as much as a problem as they are in a reef tank. My tank is a reef and I only have an inch of sand. As with everything good husbandry (maintence) is the key to a healthy tank.


Mike

 

[Mudshark]

As with everything good husbandry (maintence) is the key to a healthy tank.
Mike

I agree.... heck my first reef just kinda "grew" from a fish only with live
rock system and before I knew it I had a reef... just kept adding stuff
to it..... but the best of all, it had a under gravel filter!!
I ran that tank for nearly 5 years, monthly water changes / gravel vaccum
etc and I never had a Nitrate problem... not once. Then again I only had
6 fish in it (75gal)

 

[troutman11111]

this info on deep sand beds changed my mind. http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm one of the coolest things is to watch the worms under the tank and on the sides. 6months and growing. 75 oceanic.