personaly I don't feel that feeding from a sand bed is a reality anymore as stated befor there have been saying that with the limited sand bed bio diversity in our tank the plankton produced is the wrong type or of a insufficient amount.
So my stand now on a sand bed is that it should be used and a nitrate reduction system and changed out at regular intervals. as to how long thoes intervals are I am not sure but I would guess between 2 and 4 years.
now seeing that it will be running for a significant amount of time it is inevitable that it will be popluated with creatures and intourn supply the rest of the system with some sort of life also.
as for partitioning if you are going to do it with one bed that would work fine, but you might want to set up 3 partitions and fill them all to start with. then each year pic one and replace it. this will give you a 3 year turn around eventualy on each partition which should work fine as most people who have had problems see them in the 4th and 5th year it seems.
Steve
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 *everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*
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