Thread: DSB in a bucket
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Old 03-01-2006, 09:41 PM
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Perhaps. And perhaps running both is even better.

Brief run-down of a R-DSB (Remote Deep Sand Bed)

1. Use a container such as a 5g bucket
2. Drill and install two bulkheads, on opposite sides of the bucket, one for in, one for out.
3. Fill with sand - silica sand, NOT aragonite sand, aragonite might fuse together because of the low flow. Use a silicate test kit if you want to make sure you are not leeching silicates, but according to the RC thread, this is not a concern. Fill up to the bottom of the bulkhead, use larger grain sand for the top layer so it doesnt blow away.
4. Cover to avoid light and unwanted algae growth
5. Hook up a powerhead to the intake on the bucket, or to the output of your skimmer, or UV, etc. Gph is not exact, but not much is needed, make sure you dont overdue your bulkhead. After the skimmer is prefered so you dont get gunk building up in the RDSB

Now you are done, and all it cost you to potentially reduce your nitrates is a salt bucket you have kicking around, a couple bulkheads, $5 of sand, some tubing, and a powerhead or other flow source you have kicking around.

The theory is that water flows over the top of the sand, and using diffusion the water slowly circulates through the bucket. As you get down to about 8" of sand, you are in a no-oxygen zone, where the bacteria are present to convert nitrates to nitrogen, and the nitrogen is a gas that just escapes into the air.

This is better than a regular DSB because it is much deeper, cheaper because of the use of regular silica play sand ($5 for 50lbs) and it can be replaced whenever you want.
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