2" substrate is bad?

[Boxster]

Hi all,
I have about 2" sugar size sand setup, so it isn't a DSB. Is this bad? Read somewhere that if you use sand, you need a DSB, if not it is a nutrient sink. How true this is?

 

[scuba_steve]

yea your setting up for a crash if ya ask me unless ya only have 1-2 fish then ya prob ok !! but the more waste ya produce the more sand ya should have imo !!

 

[HoopsGuru]

Being a "nutrient sink" is a theory that applies to both shallow and deep sand beds if it is true. That is a whole other debate!

IMO, there is nothing wrong with a shallow sandbed. You could still have it full of critters and everything else, it would just not have the anaerobic zone on the bottom. However, if I was going shallow, I wouldn't bother going more than an 1" or so. There is that much surface area with sand that I don't see bioload becoming an issue, and liverock may help with denitrifying to a degree.

 

[drinkingbird]

I have 20lbs of aragonite sand w/lots of critters in a 12 gal tank. I would like to increase the amt. of sand to obtain a DSB can I just add more aragonite?

 

[HoopsGuru]

I wouldn't be concerned with a DSB in such a small tank. IMO, the benefits would be far outweighed by the loss of water volume.

 

[reefrunner69]

While I agree with hoops, would like to point out that anyone wanting to increase their sandbed to a DSB from a SSB, you may simply add more sand on top of the SSB, simply add no more than 1/2" once or twice per week until you hit the desired depth. You should also take grainsize into consideration, what is already n the tank and what your adding.

 

[jackdp]

I only have 30 lbs or so of sand in my 20 gallon long tank, this comes out to about 1-2" depth here and there. The tanks been set up for almost a year and half with just the sand, 25-30lbs LR and a skimmer and I have had undetectable nitrates almost the whole time. ...just thought I'd pitch in with a shallow sand bed success story

 

[Boxster]

While I agree with hoops, would like to point out that anyone wanting to increase their sandbed to a DSB from a SSB, you may simply add more sand on top of the SSB, simply add no more than 1/2" once or twice per week until you hit the desired depth.

Do you need to vaccum it to be free of detris before adding the sand? Or can you just add the sand on top of it without vaccumming?

 

[jamal-188]

I don't think it's really possible to vaccum the sand bed? I wouldn't worry about it unless there are huge chunks of food laying there.