How thick of a sand bed should I have?

[Royalty]

Seriously though, DSBs are Soo "myspace" now

haha . that was funny . I want to be one of the cool kids!

 

[Royalty]

Take the advice get rid of the crushed coral now in the beginning. I have a few spots where my sandbed is 1 1/2" but mostly 1/2" behind the rocks almost nothing at all.I used really fine sand so it made a hilly bottom from the powerheads now it does not shift at all.I have heard of alot of people who have a dsb in their refugium

I just took it out today Im going to leave 1 1/2 until I get some really fine sand maybe this mon.

 

[JohnK]

haha . that was funny . I want to be one of the cool kids!

Hey, the "cool kids" aren't always right

IMO DSB's are a perfectly viable way to keep a great reef tank, but with experience I have come to agree that they can become nutirent sinks over time (even if I thought my maintence and husbandry was on par ).

If you do run a DSB, I would reccomend changing parts of it out every few yrs to be safe. Maybe change out 1/4 every year after it's been running for 2 yrs.

 

[gweston]

I'll be doing a ~2" sandbed in the to-be-built 125gal long this summer. The sand is mostly for aesthetics and something for the critters to play in. The fuge may have a DSB, but honestly I'm not sure if it would be better to just leave it bare bottom with a lot of liverock and rely on decent skimming and water changes.

My current 29gal has a mix of ~25% very fine and 75% sugar grain sand. The sugar grain was bought as live sand. I do like the look of crushed coral, but I can certainly understand why it can be a detritus trap. I won't use it.