When I took down my 110 gallon reef w/5-6 inch DSB the sulphide smell and dirty grey water that was left behind was a cause for question with me. On my new 120 gal I didn't want that in there, plus it took up valuble hight in the tank so I went with a small sandbed (1/2 to 3/4 inch medium grade aragonite bed) but it just didn't look as awesome as a fine grained DSB. I also was wondering If I was loosing benifitial aspects of the DSB so I came to a comprimise and I added a bit more than 2 inches of sugar sand. It looks good and I hope I get a lot of sand bed life. For "nitrate reducing" I went with a 4-5 inch DSB in a 20 gallon refugium and hooked up to my sytem.
Now am I getting the same filtration that my 110 gal had? I think so. The way I look at it, at least this sandbed in the rubbermaid refugium can be replaced in a few years, if it is proved that they need replacing or refreshing.
I'm interested to hear what people think about this aswell, so post!
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