sand substrate

[leesanhua]

i have 15 gallon tank. how deep should have the sand?

 

[RMPD109]

Are you looking for aesthetics or for nitrification? For enhancing looks only you could use 1-3inches. For a DSB used for eliminating nitrates you would want 4-6inches. Some say in a tank that size a DSB will not be that benificial but I dont see how it would hurt. As with the LR a DSB will house many critters such as stars and worms. Great biodiversity

 

[midiman]

DSB may indeed be worthwhile, but it's hard to imagine it in a 15 gal tank. How tall is the tank? Can you lose 4-6" of your total depth to sand?


I decided to pass on a DSB in my 30 gal because I didn't want to lose the volume of water, and quite frankly I thought that that depth of sand in a fairly small tank looked bad. I'm going to put a DSB/refugium in my 10 gal sump to see if that helps (it will have to be small, though). If not, I'll use a separate 10 gal tank sump as a DSB location.