DSB/refugium/detrivore advice

[Jeff]

Always been a lurker, guess it's time to post.

Hi canadawest btw [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

OK at long last I have the 33 gal with 120# of oolitic sugar sand and 30 pounds of caribsea live sand (ick, but oh well). Water is almost clear (only been 2 days!). Two problems:

1) In my "I'm so excited to get this finally hooked up" I added all the sand at once, then added water. Would have been better to go an inch at a time to allow faster bacteria growth deep in the bed...but...I did hand mix in the live sand a bit with the oolitic once the water was in. Anyone think this is a huge problem?

2) Detrivore kit. Spaghetti worms, etc etc etc. Any ideas where I can get some to keep this DSB (about 5.5" deep now) from calcifying and lumping up on me? Bristle worms I can provide, but they dont burrow/live in the sand (at least mine don't). I seem to be having a bit of a problem finding spaghetti worms, mysis shrimp, miniature brittle stars, micro stars, etc. Is perhaps getting a few pieces of super quality rock and tossing that in an idea? I have tons of rock around but getting fresh rock may be the answer.

Before I moved my sump for my large tank had a huge abundance of copepods, however I have seen none since the move. I'm sure they'll come back though with time.

Thanks for any advice
Jeff

[Aquattro]

Jeff, adding all the sand at once is fine. You actually have different strains of bacteria at different depths in your DSB. As the Oxygen gradient goes down, you will get a greater abundance of anaerobic bacteria, the kind that utilize nitrate as an electron source. If you culture aerobic bacteria and then cover them with more sand, they'll die. I suppose some could migrate up, bt overall they would just die.

As for detrivores, the US companies that used to provide them no longer ship to Canada. I have just used LR and have a billion critters in my sand. Maybe a few more high grade chunks will help boost the population, but what you have should do. Another option is to obtain some sand from fellow hobbyists that have well established sand beds.

[DJ88]

Welcome to the board.. Nice to see ya join us [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>I added all the sand at once, then added water. Anyone think this is a huge problem?
<hr></blockquote>

Should be fine. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] It's a new tank right?

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Detrivore kit.

Either you buy one form Inland Aquatics or you swap some sand with other reefers and don't add anything predatory in your tank for enough time to let the critters multiply and grow in numbers sufficient to keep the population alive. You'll need to find people around here who have those critters in their systems and see if you can get a cupfull or so. The larger number of different tanks the better chance you have of getting a wider variety of critters. You will get some neat stuff on LR. especially if you can get uncured and use the LR to cure your tank. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Jeff]

Aye. Good point about the varying layers and just killing the aerobic bacteria anyways.

Fora bit of background knowledge, this is a 33 gal refugium on a small (66 gallon) reef. Most of the rock in this particular tank has been in and out of my various reefs over the years (as small as 66, as large as 130). Has a very high worm population but I'm sure a few pieces of new rock with all sorts of critters would work well.

Already have bristles in their, saw them crawling around, probably came out of the few pieces of LR I tossed in already. Some of the bristles have died, but I think that is because they got smothered to death by the settling silt. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Some live sand from an established reef would be fantastic, especially if it came with a few spaghetti worms or the like. Anyone care to donate a cup or two? [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I can trade some mushrooms or the like. Mushrooms replicate like mad in my tank, no room for new coral right now [img]images/smiles/icon_sad.gif[/img]

I'm not worried about predators since this is a refugium with no fish/etc in it. Will add snails/shrimp/hermits later on once things are settled down a bit. For now all that is in it are a few big chunks of LR, the DSB, and a few handfuls of caulerpa.

PS: Inland Aquatics doesn't ship to Canada [img]images/smiles/icon_sad.gif[/img] Already checked them.

Thanks
Jeff

[canadawest]

Hey Jeff, welcome to the board.

Not much to say about the live sand/critters thing that others haven't already nailed on the head.

Your sandbed will come to life on its own without fancy (and expensive) detriovore kits. All you need is some live rock, and maybe swap some sand with other reefers over the coming months. Give it time, it'll happen.

PS... Congrats on setting up the new refugium, mine is all setup now too. If you still want to do some trading, email me!

[Jeff]

Aye. I'm aware life comes in on it's own, but I wouldn't mind some spaghetti worms, some Myssus shrimp, etc. More "macro" life that is beneficial for the some sand movement that ARENT typically hitch-hiking around on live rock etc.

Both tank are all clear, hooked the main tank back up to the sump last night. All looks good. Now I just need to build me a hood for the 33gal and stick a halide or a few NO fluros over it.

Jeff

[Aquattro]

Jeff, just an FYI...I have more mysis shrimp in my tank than you could imagine...all from the rock. I've also got spaghetti worms from the same rock. The only thing I'd like and can't find is micro brittle stars.

[Canadian]

Inland Aquatics sent me a detrivore kit a couple years back...maybe they've changed their policy on shipping to Canada. They just sent it FedEx, with no hidden charges, and everything arrived alive and within 24 hrs.

[Aquattro]

Andrew, they did in fact change their policy about a year ago. Apparently it was too much trouble shipping here.