Cleaning a DSB ???

Darryl

Darryl

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My DSB has been running for about a year. It is made from Reggies Play sand and .....well,.....sort of seems to have been working!!!! I'm not so sure!

I still have high nitrates, so I was wondering wether it is possible to "clean" it? From what I have read, it seems that these things are nothing more than a detritus/debris trap!

Any comments?
 
hi Darryl, no need to clean it, what else is in the sump?

nitrates could be from other sources, whats the flow like over the dsb?
 
Darryl - where do you get the information from that DSB's are detritus traps? I have 2 DSB's - one in my Display Tank, and the othere one in my tank's sump.
All I do, is very lightly "rake" the top +-1cm or so of my DSB in the tank (not in the sump)..... And yes - some detritus goes into the water column feeding my corals.....

And I agree - there MUST be another reasons for your nitrate level being high - how much, and what do you feed? What skimmer do you run?
It could possibly be that you are overfeeding, or that your skimmer is not removing enough of the waste from your tank....

Do you have an algae scrubber?
 
Another way of "raking" is put a bunch of hermits in the DSB and let them do the rest.
 
dallasg said:
, whats the flow like over the dsb?
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1000 l per hour.



jacquesb said:
- how much, and what do you feed? What skimmer do you run?
It could possibly be that you are overfeeding, or that your skimmer is not removing enough of the waste from your tank....
Do you have an algae scrubber?
Click to expand...

I have cut back on my feeding after being "moaned at " by Tovanco!! Maybe I still overfeed....hard to tell really!
I run a TS2 skimmer and I am pre-filterering. This pre-filter gets replaced every other day...same time as I clean my skimmer.
I am thinking of changing my DSB to a scrubber. No room for both.:(



Warr7207 said:
Another way of "raking" is put a bunch of hermits in the DSB and let them do the rest.
Click to expand...

got that.:thumbup:



ted.vanh said:
Golden haed gobies also do the trick
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Got a breeding pair in the tank.:)



Warr7207 said:
I wouldn't keep a nice looking fish like that is a sump, what a waste :p
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Damn right!:nono:
 
Don't replace the dsb, its the heart of the system, maybe making it thicker/deeper
Posted via Mobile Device
 
I got a Scrubber ON TOP of by DSB
Ok this is my temp setup but it works.

Do not remove the DSB, tank will CRASH What else will immediatly take over the job it is doing now! (sorry, but I have to make this point very clear)
109449983b2e05459.jpg

10944998388db39cd.jpg

More info check my playstation thread
 
And maybe the 1000L per hour is to fast, how wide and deep (surface area of sand) is the DSB. Maybe to short a distance the water can run over it. Therefor not giving any solids and stuff time to settle on the sand.
How deep is the sand itself, and how deep is the water level above the sand.

Did you seed the DSB from another live sand bed.

And if it is year old it is a good idea to re-seed it. Remember some of the organisms in there blossoms and out populate others, so eventually the diversity will decline and you will or can end up with only a small number of different types of wild live in there. Introducing new life, or re-seeding periodically from other DSB's are a good idea.
 
Amigos, please... some good comments here, but it seems like y'all are missing one important thing: how big is this sump and tank?!? You can't just put some sand in a 10L sump and call it a DSB. You need the surface area of the footprint of a 88L tank (at least!).

Sand can actually become a hinderance to filtration and nutrient processing when you don't use it correctly.

Darryl, how big is your sump and tank? What are the dimensions?
 
sihaya said:
Amigos, please... some good comments here, but it seems like y'all are missing one important thing: how big is this sump and tank?!? You can't just put some sand in a 10L sump and call it a DSB. You need the surface area of the footprint of a 88L tank (at least!).

Sand can actually become a hinderance to filtration and nutrient processing when you don't use it correctly.

Darryl, how big is your sump and tank? What are the dimensions?
Click to expand...

good point, should have asked :)
 
sihaya said:
Sand can actually become a hinderance to filtration and nutrient processing when you don't use it correctly.

?
Click to expand...


I would like to believe that the DSB is big enough, and that the problem lies in the above statement!
 
Ok, Assume sump is 400 front to back and 850 left to right (direction of waterflow)

Only 2 questions not answered,
1. How deep is the water above the sand?
2. How did you seed it, or when last did you re-seed it?
 
RiaanP said:
Ok, Assume sump is 400 front to back and 850 left to right (direction of water flow)

Only 2 questions not answered,
1. How deep is the water above the sand?
2. How did you seed it, or when last did you re-seed it?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot.....

The water above the sand is 220 mm deep and this one was not really seeded at all except with some "Macaroni beads" that contained denitrifing bacteria. It has never been "reseeded".
 
Mekaeel said:
Right back up, how often you do a water change and how many % Darryl? As you would know, water changes play a huge role in nutrient export.
Click to expand...


You are not gonna like this............I do/need to do a 50-70% change(400l) every 2 weeks.
 
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