Canister Filter, DSB?

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
I was sitting around pondering...I am planning to remove my filters from my fluval 305 canister and end them for good since they seem to just be a nuisance to clean and really dont trap anything aside from some junk. Mostly this thing fills with mulm. I was wondering if I could pour a bunch of sand into this thing and have it act like a DSB?

This is for a 20g nano reef thats over a year old. Nitrates are zero, no algae except for the pesky brown film algae that grows on the sides of the tank and other high flow areas.

So, is this idea stupid or does it have some merit? Is it worth the sand? Id still run my GFO in the thing and carbon when needed, but plan to toss the sponges.

Any thoughts? Dangers? (Sand clogging the impeller or blowing out of the canister all over my DT would not be nice).

Thanks!
Matt

 

[thincat]

With 0 nitrates I would say "if it aint broke don't fix it". It doesn't seem like it would make a difference, you might just put in some rubble rock.

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I love fixing things that arent broke, yet.

0 Nitrates is likely to be due to that brown film junk eating it. Im willing to bet the nitrates are just high enough to support one thing and thats why there is very little else growing. (Cheato is the other).

Maybe I will remove all the sponges and see how things go before making a mini DSB. I did win a new in box Aquatic life 115 skimmer for $31.00 on ebay. Maybe that will also put a damper on things a bit?

So what all is needed for a DSB to operate? Would the water through the canister be too fast for a DSB to develop? Maybe slowing down the water would help? Or maybe just leaving the thing empty of sand, rocks, sponges will mean more room for water and that actually be the real benefit?

Thanks!
Matt

 

[thincat]

A deep sand bed in a tank is about a 4" to 6" bed of sand. It has to be deep enough to allow "Anarobic bacteria" to be able to do their thing. It goes something like this. Ammonia from your "Bio-load", what ever it is, then bacteria transforms the ammonia to nitries, another group of bacteria then eats, "transforms" the nitrites into "nitrates". Still another groupd of bacteria that lives without oxigen converts the ntrates in nitrogen gas that excapes back into the air. Your canister may be to small to be worth the effort. Google remote deep sandbed and see how a remote is set up.