Bare Bottom Tanks

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

What he didn't tell you that has been recently dicovered is that the 10% of those "bugs" account for about 85 to 90% of the denitrification process, all of which occures withing the first 3/4 inches of sand in an aquarium.

is this a new development that you need bugs for denitrification? the sand alone will denitrify with bacteria no need for pods, worms ect. and what was meant for a working sand bed is long term like 15 years ect.. if you have the right bugs ie. the little est one eats the bacteria that breakdown the nitrate, and a bigger one eats that and so on and so on until the fish are the last of the removal chain then theoretically a sand bed will be self sustaining and never plug up. this is what cannot happen in our tanks and it is why after anywhere from 1 to 5 years most sand beds start creating more problems than they solve. so there are no bugs needed for nitrification only a pours surface of the right depth and bacteria, hence this is why rock works just as good and is the original filter. but yes I agree bugs are fun to watch and I have just as many mysis, pods, worms as I did in the sand bed, is just that I am getting old and can't stay up that late to watch them anymore hehe

Steve