Bare Bottom To Dsb.

[wayne g]

hi all.
after running my system for 10 months i have finally decided that i do not like the look of bare bottom.....
:lol:

whats involved in adding a substrate as this stage as apart from the bryopsis which ONLY lives on the egg crate i have not had any major problems and dont want to start introducing any now!
:unsure:

full blown dsb or an inch?????
also if i do change it over the egg crate is definetly coming out to get rid of bryopsis once and for all.
your thoughts please as i do not want to upset the system.
:thanx:

[stm]

HI
Would opt for 1-11/2" of sugarfine sand.

In tank DSB's can be a pain in the ass getting them seeded up etc. Also the benefits can often be minimal. Also if you have strong flow the stuff will get blown every where until all the stuff is stuck together with biofilms etc. Finally if the sand bed does go wrong and they can at times you will have far more problems sorting it out in tank.

As for adding sand you will obviously cause a spike in the KH so worth adding in batches if you are the cautious type. Also you can wash caribsea till the cows come home and you will still get a cloudy tank for a few days.

Other than that no real worries.

regards Jez

[simon garratt]

Hi Wayne.

Well if your talking of taking the egg crate out then your fundamentally talking a complete strip in which case simply add pre wetted sand (aragamax type consistancy) to your required depth and then put everything back.

There are a few ifs and buts though. You need to decide wether you want rock buried within the sand bed (ie put the sand in around the rock ) or less advised IMO is to place the rock 'on' the sand.

Depth is another issue altogether. many people find a 2" fine sand bed just as efficient and less visually invasive within a tank compared to a full blown 5"+ DSB. both will perform admirably as long as they arnt dug up by having the wrong types of stock in the tank and seeded with a good dose of crud from your LFS or other sand beds.


As far as chemistry goes. For minimal adverse impact, i would strongly advise pre soaking any sand you want to add for a couple of weeks in old tank water to stabalise it first. (stir every day). Its quite common when adding raw sand to an existing system to get big drops in both MG and Alk as the sand stabalises untill everything has hit equalibrium.


regards

Si.

[wayne g]

cheers si thats the kind of advice i was looking for!
chemistry was my biggest worry tbh
:thumbsup: :thanx: