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Remote DSB...?


moovinfast

Remote DSB...?  

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    • Half DSB / Half Fuge
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    • Just do a fuge
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So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my sumps for the new tank. Its going to have 2 tanks hooked together. A standard 55gallon and a 60 gallon cube. I was going to put all the equipment in the cube along with the return pump. I was going to divide the 55 gallon tank in half with some plexi and turn half of the 55 gallon into a DSB with the other side as the intake from the display and to use as a fuge with some rock rubble and some Cheato. What are peoples thoughts about using a remote DSB?

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So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my sumps for the new tank. Its going to have 2 tanks hooked together. A standard 55gallon and a 60 gallon cube. I was going to put all the equipment in the cube along with the return pump. I was going to divide the 55 gallon tank in half with some plexi and turn half of the 55 gallon into a DSB with the other side as the intake from the display and to use as a fuge with some rock rubble and some Cheato. What are peoples thoughts about using a remote DSB?

I like the idea! I have heard that a benfit of RDSB's is that the sand bed is more effective as it gets deeper.

One of Anthony Calfo's ideas was to use a bucket (ie. salt bucket) filled up with a lot of sand and have slow current running across the first couple of inches and back into the system. This could be done with a maxi-jet going into a bulkhead in the tank and bulkhead and line returning to the system. He suggested to have the bucket and lid opaque to discourage nuisance growth in the RDSB.

I am going to run a RDSB on my system too!

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Am I reading it right that you are going to have a 60g cube display and then a 55g sump/refugium/remote DSB?

 

I think I am missing an element here because you wrote the return pump was going in the 60g.

 

Sorry to ask so much upfront but I want to make sure I give you the right advice so I need to understand fully. I don't want to tell you something you have problems later because I read something wrong.

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240g display' date=' 60g cube sump, 55g fuge/dsb?[/quote']

 

Thanks, glad I asked.

 

I don't think that the size of DSB your talking about would have much beneficial effects.

 

IMO if you just want nitrate removal, and you want to do it biologically, then keep the 55g barebottom, and use it for chaeto growth. You can use 7 or 8 of the refugium spiral bulbs. Add a couple of koralia 4's and get a good amount of flow through the refugium. It will remove the nitrate and give a haven to grow food for the tank. Cut the chaeto in half and trim it back to the soze of two large grape fruits every month or so.

 

JMO

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The problem with a DSB is that if they aren't maintained or setup well, they can become nitrate, detritus and or phosphate traps. You typically want a stand alone DSB to be of the finest sand possible, aragonite if possible, to assist with buffering but also keep it in as dark of an area as possible to deter algae growth. I have seen some DSB's combined with macro algae or mangroves but i'm not sure how successful they are or how hard it is to maintain a healthy DSB with live plant growth. This is something I too have been contemplating implementing into either my frag tank setup or my 120 system. The 5 gallon bucket setup is looking more and more appealing to me as time goes on.

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