Sand bed

[DJKoop]

Very good reading and full of info, this is the most intersting paragraph

Overall death rates were roughly twice as high in aquaria with shallow sediments as in deep sediment treatments. The highest overall death rates were seen in aquaria with shallow coarse sediments over a plenum, and the lowest death rates occurred in aquaria with a sandbed composed of deep coarse sediments. The treatments that were closest to the design aquarists employ for deep sandbed, Miracle Mud and Jaubert plenum aquaria had intermediate death rates. The shallow coarse sediment design that is closest to that used in Berlin systems had one of the highest death rates, and the deep coarse sediment design for which there is currently no accepted name had the lowest overall mortality (Fig. 10). We did not test bare bottom tanks, but the data clearly suggest that the shallower the sediment, the higher the mortality rate, and you can't get much shallower than a bare bottom tank!

[BCOrchidGuy]

WowOwowOwow... Cripes I had just pretty much almost for sure made up my mind for the most part to probably go bare bottom, now I'm kind of wishywashy.

Doug

[andresont]

[quote=DJKoop;233232]Very good reading and full of info, this is the most intersting paragraph

and the deep coarse sediment design for which there is currently no accepted name had the lowest overall mortality (Fig. 10). We did not test bare bottom tanks, but the data clearly suggest that the shallower the sediment, the higher the mortality rate, and you can't get much shallower than a bare bottom tank!
******************
I see it diferently ie, coarse sand will only trap more CR*P and kreate more problems
JM2C worth

[albert_dao]

Hold your horses folks, let's take into consideration a few facts here and their relevance to these articles:

a. These were temporary, short term installations. Hardly set up for stability. They were not cycled properly and the actual equipment selection was unrealistic. Did anyone else notice the lack of massive flow, skimmers, cured live rock, etc?

b. The fundamentals of reef keeping are quality equipments, a good knowledge base, and routine maintanance. These procedures allow one to keep up with the dynamics of reef chemistry, organic cycles.

c. Sandbeds/plenums are a nightmare for maintanance. That's pretty self explanatory. Long-term results on properly set up (equipment, cycling, stocking, etc) BB tanks are numerically superior to those of DSB/plenum orientated strategies, IME.

For real guys, look at those experiments. Who in here has a tank that even remotely resembles those tanks (either in appearance or mechanics)?

*cough cough*

[Reefer Rob]

I don't think the death rates in their experiments would apply to an established tank; other factors would come into play in a newly set up tank.

The thing I found most interesting is that all tanks experienced a similar level of nitrate reduction- shallow or deep substrate.

It made me re-think the value of plenums and DSBs. I fact it should make us question what we think we know about how nitrates are reduced in our aquariums. Nitrate is obviously being reduced in areas other than anoxic zones

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

I don't think the death rates in their experiments would apply to an established tank; other factors would come into play in a newly set up tank.

The thing I found most interesting is that all tanks experienced a similar level of nitrate reduction- shallow or deep substrate.

It made me re-think the value of plenums and DSBs. I fact it should make us question what we think we know about how nitrates are reduced in our aquariums. Nitrate is obviously being reduced in areas other than anoxic zones

That is pretty interesting.

*puts on thinking cap*

... Okay, that wasn't a good idea, I'm going to bed now, LOL!

Later.

[DJKoop]

Wow, talk about a mature tank. Looks like someone choped a section of reef out and stuck it in there. Beyond words. How many years would it take to get growth like that? Still speachless.