DSB Setup for Beginners

Dober Man said:
To be honest, i think that the best way to seed a new DSB is to collect a few small pieces of rock directly from the ocean. In the rock pools you always see small chunks of sand stone covered in algae and other little growths. Put them in a bucket full of water and add it to you tank as soon as possible.

When i have added these little chunks to my tank, i have seen little critters literally swimming out of the algae.
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always wondered about that. Does the temp change, being in CPT, not result in alot more die off..how many critters can survive a temp change from below 20 to 27degrees?
 
Snoek, maybe what you should do is kep the critters in a bucket for a day, and slowly raise the temp till it is at the tanks leverl. Then add the buggers.
 
Dober Man said:
To be honest, i think that the best way to seed a new DSB is to collect a few small pieces of rock directly from the ocean. In the rock pools you always see small chunks of sand stone covered in algae and other little growths. Put them in a bucket full of water and add it to you tank as soon as possible.

When i have added these little chunks to my tank, i have seen little critters literally swimming out of the algae.
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this is what i was getting at.getting it straight outa the rock pools and placing on the DSB.ive notice a hell of alot of life on some of the local pieces.lotsa little shrimps and worms etc...
 
Just make sure the rocks have no little crevices where pistol shrimps could be hiding.
 
djmurray said:
Very nice Gal one question...With such little flow though and around the DSB and thick sand wont this build up a lot of muck which leads to nitrate problems?
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Well, I suppose it depends on how you define muck. One of the points of having fauna in the DSB is to consume leftover food. Leftover food in my tank that land in the DSB compartment don't last a minute.

As I said, look out for Cyano, I read that that's probably the best give away that you don't have enough flow.
 
Most would probably not agree, but filter floss erforms this function for me, I have my water go into the skimmer compartment, wnd over a baffle through filter floss into the DSB chamber.
I change it every few days
 
I've always been a fan of filter floss. But I run it only occasionally.

Mekaeel, I'm not really sure, like I said, uneaten food don't last in my DSB. I think it may be mainly due to the bristle worms. I also have a pod heaven there, but don't know if they eat large particles.
 
Mekaeel, your DSB acts as a safehaven for your pods etc. It is here where the adult population can live and breed in perfect harmony..... Adding a fish in there would screw this up, as he/she would eat all your little friends.

I recommend having 2 or 3 small hernits in there to eat anything that floats by. Added bonus is that they eat algae.
 
Here is a nice example of what a heathly, well set up DSB should look like. Note how fine the substrate is and how it's teaming with life. These pics are of Alan's DSB.

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