Cyano

[alanmorehead]

I don't run a DSB or GFO and have relied on chaeto for most of my nutrient export. I have a 100g stock tank (25% of system volume) dedicated to growing it out. Running that and reducing my feedings brought nutrients down pretty low. It takes up more room than GFO or an RDSB though.

 

[hankclaussen]

I would say to NOT put the refugium and the RDSB in the same container, because while letting stuff settle in a fuge is okay if you vacuum it once in a while, you're gonna want to leave the rdsb alone. I think the 40 breeder idea is perfect for the fuge and a brute with maybe 200lbs of sugar-sized oolite for the RDSB. Put the input and output opposed not too much more than you have to above the surface of the sand, say 6" and put 1000gph through it.

The reason a RDSB works is because the anerobic bacteria that will grow toward the bottom where there is little oxygen will eat up nitrate and phosphate, while if in a stagnate bucket the lack of flow eventually leads to zero oxygen and you get anoxic bacteria which usually produce hydrogen sulfide. That is the egg smell you don't want in the tank! This is also why I agree with JD to not go over 10", because I don't think it is needed and you begin to run the risk of anoxia.

 

[hankclaussen]

I put about 400 lbs. in a 55 G trash can once, but I don't think there's any added benefit once you're over 10 inches deep. I know a road in town where there's about 1500 lbs. of CaribSea sand sitting in a ditch.....

That's awesome! ...and a LOT of sand! :fun5: ...where?

 

[bohlke]

I think I would do a two stage setup, rdsb first and have that drain into a large macro tank. All you need to do is negotiate some extra space and you are set . On the original link ( http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 ) a 2000 gallon system showed results in a month with a 55G tank filled with sand. I would assume that a smaller tank kept in the dark with 1" of water flowing across it lengthwise would do the trick for nitrates and then you could have a large fuge for macro growth. I would still do the top .5" or 1" in a larger grain sand to make it easy to maintain the flow rate.

 

[huskerreef]

Thanks for all the help. I am leaning towards both. I like the fuge idea because its intersting to look at in my opinion, and it can feed the main tank with bugs. And the rsdb for its functionality. I need to see how to work in the rdsb space wise. It may be time to move deeper into the wifes craft room, I have to slowly add more equipment into the area so she won't notice. I expect someday for her to walk in to the room and ask where I put her craft room. lol

 

[malawiman]

. I expect someday for her to walk in to the room and ask where I put her craft room. lol

:lmao: niki just tells me i wont be happy till we live in a fish tank. i think she might be right im developing gills behind my ears lol. :fish2:

 

[Hartdude]

i expect someday for her to walk in to the room and ask where i put her craft room. Lol

lol!

 

[huskerreef]

Jim, have you thought about plumbing in a fuge to your system? I think a 40 breeder would fit nicely next to your ozone system. The light that comes from your tank lights would be plenty for a fuge, I would think. You could plumb your skimmer return to dump into the fuge, then just have a gravity dump through a bulkhead to your main sump. You could really probably put a moderately deep sandbed in that 40, with chaeto and caluerpa in it. I'm not sure how much a DSB in a 40b would help your cause, but I don't see it hurting anything. How are the new additions to the 90 doing?

the male is doing fine but the female i think kicked the bucket.

 

[huskerreef]

whats the importance of surface area on a rdsb? it seems that the overall depth effectiveness is no more than 12" so if I have more square inches of surface space for the water to run across I am assuming thats better. I am thinking about the space under my skimmer stand, roughly 3'by3' and how to fit the rsdb under that.

 

[malawiman]

ive added alot of ls and plan to add alot more to our 100g stock tank basicly a large dsb with macro ontop. a stock tank might fit ive seen 50g round ones at menards.

 

[Hartdude]

Jim, I wonder if a 100 gallon stock tank would fit under that stand?

The dimentions of the tank is 52-7/16"L x 31-1/8"W x 25"H. If the skimmer stand is 36" wide, then you should be able to fit it under there, but just have some of the end sticking out. The stock tank would work well, covering you both in the depth and surface area departments, not to mention they are easy to drill and don't weigh too much.

 

[bohlke]

Jim, I wonder if a 100 gallon stock tank would fit under that stand?

The dimentions of the tank is 52-7/16"L x 31-1/8"W x 25"H. If the skimmer stand is 36" wide, then you should be able to fit it under there, but just have some of the end sticking out. The stock tank would work well, covering you both in the depth and surface area departments, not to mention they are easy to drill and don't weigh too much.

And it would be easy to keep dark.

 

[huskerreef]

So I am thinking of a rsdb,mangrove planter, macro refugium. My idea is to have 3 multi hieght chambers all inter-connected where water is pumped into the rsdb the overflows into the mangrove planter and from there flows into macro algae. The rsdb portion would be made out of black acrylic with lid, the remaining would be clear acrylic. Still hamering out my design thats in my head.

 

[Hartdude]

Remind me what volume of water, or what size you are thinking of for each contaner.

 

[Hartdude]

Here's my (terrible) sketch-up for a acrylic custom chaeto/mangrove/RDSB chamber. I think you could have a Mag 12 pump the water up to the top chamber (Mangrove or Chaeto), which will dump to the second chamber (Mangrove or Chaeto), which will dump to the third and largest chamber for the RDSB, that will have a lid over it, then the water can dump through a bulkhead and plumbed back to the sump. You could fab the box up to match the dimentions of the area where your ozone system is currently. Here's my thought. Laugh away!:dance:

 

[huskerreef]

it actually looks a lot like what i was thinking. Now I just have to get brads brother to build it. with my dimensions I think I would be at about 60 gallons. what do you think about miracle mud for the mangrove chamber?

 

[Hartdude]

Miracle Mud wouldn't be bad for the Mangrove chamber, just remember that you have to change 50% of it out every 12 months. It's not too expensive, just a pain to remember to do.

 

[bohlke]

I really think you want the RDSB first, most likely it will wipe out the nitrates and then you can have the macro work on the phosphates. Just my $0.02, love the sketch though its like some kind of zen garden behind the tank

 

[huskerreef]

Well I have my rsdb all set up, just need to plumb it and run it. Also had a new 100 gallon per day RO/DI filter system and water softener installed today. My old unit would only drop TDS to 14 with all new filters and within 2 months it was nearing 160. oday ater the RO/DI was installed I finally was at 0. I blame a lot of my issues with the cyano to a possibly ineffecient poorly working RO/DI system. I had no TDS meter prior to a couple months ago and after seeing my numbers then I have no way of nowing how bad they have been averaging. I was changing out my filters based on time not actual readings. I am optomistic this will help out.

 

[huskerreef]

So I have added nearly 100 lbs of sand and I am still 3 inches of water over the sand level, am I OK or do I need to be closer to and inch water level over the sand.