I am getting ready to setup a new tank and was wondering what everyone's opinion was on remote deep sand beds. To start, the display tank (150 gallons) is going to be setup as a mixed reef tank with live rock and a 2-3" sand bed that will be cleaned and replaced as necessary. The tank drain will be plumbed through a 75 gallon tank with a 6" DSB that will be stocked with benefitial sand sifting critters (bristle worms, snails, and some hermits for any leftover food that might make it down there). In turn that tank will drain to a 40 gallon long sump. The sump will be configured so that the water draining from the refugium/RDSB will enter a skimmer compartment, then travel through a bubble trap into a properly lit chamber that will house chaeto, through another bubble trap, and then into the return chamber. I am planning on running around 1500 gph through the return system. Primary parameters are going to be controlled through the use of a quality calcium reactor, sea chem prime, and chemi-pure elite. I will most likely be tying in a 30-60 gallon frag tank into this system as well.
I am planning on running the RDSB without lighting, in the hopes that the critters will work harder at cleaning and keeping the sand bed turned over. Do you all see any reason that this may come back to bite me in the you know what, especially later on down the road? What if I decide to turn the DT into primarily SPS dominate later on?
I am planning on running the RDSB without lighting, in the hopes that the critters will work harder at cleaning and keeping the sand bed turned over. Do you all see any reason that this may come back to bite me in the you know what, especially later on down the road? What if I decide to turn the DT into primarily SPS dominate later on?
