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Originally Posted by scuglass
http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNfbf/bnfbf.htm
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_fbf.php
would these work. do they do the same thing as a store bought one and ne idea of the price differance because i will still have to buy a pump so it may end up being the same price.
also ne recomendations on the depth of my sand bed. i was thinking about one inch. how easy is this to clean and what type of clean up crew should i start lookin at getting
what do u mean by surface agitation |
I suppose those would work. The first one looks kinda involved. The second one is more what I was thinking. If your good with DIY, then go for it. Personally, I'm not good at DIY and was thinking more along these lines:
http://www.pentairaquatics.com/produ...dized_bed.html
I've got the 600 and have a Maxi-Jet 1200 powering it.
For the 300 and a powerhead to power it your lookin' at about $130 (before tax).
As for the sand bed, to be honest I'm 6 months new into this myself and from what I've read and heard... there are no definitive answers on sandbeds. Alot of people believe bare bottom is the way to go 'cause it's way easier to clean. Personally, I don't like the look of bare bottom and my sandbed is about 2 & 1/2" deep. I suspect I'm am going to pay for it by having to do a major sand replacement in the future due to nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide build up in the sand bed. I hear it's a horrible chore. Smells awful bad, apparently.
By surface agitation I mean that you want to "churn" the surface to facillitate good gas exchange. O2 and CO2 exchange occurs at the surface and is better carried out with a surface that is "agitating" (kinda boiling, so to speak). Any nitrogen gas, occuring from denitrification, that
wants to escape will do so at the surface also. Powerheads come with a flow deflector attachment whereby you can direct the powerhead's flow up to the surface.
I have two Seio 1500 wavemakers. I'm just using them for water circulation. So far so good. But one thing I didn't like was I had to drill holes in one of the pieces for hanging and then use zap straps thru the holes to keep the unit from sliding off the hanging bracket.
Anyway, hope this helps. Like I say, I'm pretty new to this too and anything I've passed on to you I've just recently learned myself.
Maybe someone else that knows more about the fluidized bed DIY and sandbed issues could provide better info?
Cheers,