Manny2123
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
What's the general consensus on sand beds? How many inches should you have on a 40? Would they still be beneficial if there wasn't a sump system just a canister filter?
Deep sand beds?
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Sarcothelia
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Depends on whether you want one really. DSB in a fuge is a lot more common. If you have sand sifters or jawfish you're going to want a DSB of at least 4"
It is definitely beneficial regardless of whether you have a sump. You can get away with a somewhat deep sand bed without appearing to be a deep sand bed.
At the front of the tank start off from 1.5-2" and work your way up to 4 inches at the back end. This helps detritus collect from the front and gives a ton of room for sandsifters and beneficial bacteria.
But in all honestly a DSB isn't necessary. Try to have at least a 1.5-2" sand bed and rest any base rock on the bottom of the tank before you add the sand for stable foundations.
In my 24g I have 2" in the front and 4 in the back, but it doesn't appear deep at all.
Just make sure you have something to aerate it every once in a while like nassarius snails, bristle stars (though not until tank is mature and even then...meh) or a sand sifting goby.
The sand bed doesn't need to be pure live sand by the way. You could mix 10-20 pounds of live sand with aragonite and have pretty much the same result. Just for the love of the oceans do not use beach sand or playbox sand
It is definitely beneficial regardless of whether you have a sump. You can get away with a somewhat deep sand bed without appearing to be a deep sand bed.
At the front of the tank start off from 1.5-2" and work your way up to 4 inches at the back end. This helps detritus collect from the front and gives a ton of room for sandsifters and beneficial bacteria.
But in all honestly a DSB isn't necessary. Try to have at least a 1.5-2" sand bed and rest any base rock on the bottom of the tank before you add the sand for stable foundations.
In my 24g I have 2" in the front and 4 in the back, but it doesn't appear deep at all.
Just make sure you have something to aerate it every once in a while like nassarius snails, bristle stars (though not until tank is mature and even then...meh) or a sand sifting goby.
The sand bed doesn't need to be pure live sand by the way. You could mix 10-20 pounds of live sand with aragonite and have pretty much the same result. Just for the love of the oceans do not use beach sand or playbox sand
reefcowboy
Aquarium Advice Regular
I have now a 6" DSB in my sump, and I can tell from all other things having stayed the same, the nitrates did get lowered, and I do believe it helps.
I guess if you dont have a sump but want to have a deeper sand bed, you should definitely do like Sarcothelia described, having the sand deeper towards the back of the tank.
I guess if you dont have a sump but want to have a deeper sand bed, you should definitely do like Sarcothelia described, having the sand deeper towards the back of the tank.
