:: I’m going to try out the plenum in my 30g system. Ken i know you said you’d be happy to help, i just wanted to do some reading. I was checking out Garf, and saw they use a powerhead at first? and they had an “amount of sand calculator” i picked up 40lbs yesterday, and i think their calculator weighed me in at 53?
do you do that power head startup Kapt? and does that amount of sand sound right? and what about the double mesh layer they use? they said it keeps sand stirring critters out of the bottom 2’’…
anyway, thoughts and any links to good info would be appreciated
After seeing Ken’s setup, i’m excited to get this tank growing!
This is something I wished I did in my sump as well, and I could have but I took a baffle out and ruined any chances of doing it until I set up another tank lol.
John, get on Bob Goeman web site, saltcorner.com I think. Lots of info about plenum. I read his book before the website came about. Now there’s more info on the website. One thing about plenum is, make sure all the sand space are able to be vacuum out sometimes when diterous accumulate. I keep making that mistake when I set up my tank. This is my second one and this one has been up for about 8 years now.
The reason for the power head is to get all the air out of the sandbed and the space underneath the sandbed. Hope this help.
Yes, that is GARFs method to jump start the plenum sand with bacteria . but when they remove the pump and riser and seal it up, it still has to spend another month or two stratifying bacteria from aerobic on the top to anoxic at the bottom and in the plenum. so i just do it the old fashion way, cover it right up. no flow. i better finish the plenum for you then.
They still take some time to mature. my new one is still working on it. but doing good.
[quote=“billrob71, post:9, topic:4658”]
John just got the email for the next coral magazine and it’s gonna reexplore deep sand beds.[/quote]
This image depicts my thoughts on deep sand beds very well. Would be better if there were ticking time bombs with alarm clocks and dynamite buried in the sand. Deep sand beds and plenums are not for new hobbyist, few professionals ever use them in displays, and the benefits are so minute and insignificant it isn’t worth the risk.
To each their own, but in my opinion if you have issues with your tank already you shouldn’t be trying this as it is for dedicated, seasoned, experts only and if you don’t have problems, then why try something that hardly helps anyways…
[quote=“kaptken, post:6, topic:4658”]
Yes, that is GARFs method to jump start the plenum sand with bacteria . but when they remove the pump and riser and seal it up, it still has to spend another month or two stratifying bacteria from aerobic on the top to anoxic at the bottom and in the plenum. so i just do it the old fashion way, cover it right up. no flow. i better finish the plenum for you then.
They still take some time to mature. my new one is still working on it. but doing good.
I did a lot of reading last night, thanks Ken. Now i’m even less sure about what to do. Its seems all the info states there’s not much diff from a deep course grain plenum, to a deep course grain sand bed. Also you guys that are using these methods are having nitrate/ phosphate issues. Were these problems always present or something that started after a certain time frame? Part of me wants to do a plenum, or a dsb… and the other is saying to just do a ssd same as my 125 system. ???
I will leave it alone for sure just thinking for the future both tank and fuge are dsb now the main is back side only. i think a lot of good comes from them but disaster could hit at any time this is why i’m worried. just an opinion, but i believe that all have plus and negative sides dsp, plenum ssb and bb. And there are things (critters) to have to help each one out.
“Also you guys that are using these methods are having nitrate/ phosphate issues. Were these problems always present or something that started after a certain time frame?”
John, to answer your question. Like I said, I have this tank set up for the past 8 years. I never have any issue with NO3 or PO4 till about 3 month ago. I don’t know what happen and where it went wrong. And that’s why I was turning to Ken to see if he have any knowledge as to what is going on with my plenum. I still have no idea to this day and I don’t want to tear down my tank and start over. And that is why I’m trying other options with bioplastics. Even with bioplastics running my NO3 is still too high at 5 ppm to my taste. My PO4 that I test last time about a month now was at .09 ppm.
So, right now my tank is running OK. My corals are colored and growing. I also have a HOB small fuge with macro algae and added Phosguard and Denitrate to the mix. I haven’t test my water yet, just waiting to see if those added later will help. But I still don’t know what is going on with my plenum unless I take my tank down and I’m not about to do that till it’s the last resort!
Thanks A, good info. Thats why i asked, i know you’re doing the pellets, and Ken uses a hot tub, or spa mix. I’m sure every setup has its positives/negatives and we all need to pick something that fits our reefing “style” and maintenance schedule…question for ya though… if you were to tear down the tank tmmrw…what substrate would you choose?
My opinion would still be plenum. Even though I have never try DSB or BB, but I might some day when I have my own fish room for more tanks.
And of course for my next plenum I would correct my mistake. Where I need to elevate the rocks and corals from the top layer of the sand bed and around the back to be able to do maintenance/vacuum on it.
[quote=“dunk, post:13, topic:4658”]
I will leave it alone for sure[/quote]
This has “Battle Royale” potential written all over it slap-stick
seriously though, i’d like to hear everyones input[/quote]
i just meant im going to leave mine alone no battle please lol. A maybe your sand is clogged up with junk and not allowing any flow through it? I have read and heard that all will fail in time except bb. My personal choice is to stay away from bb. maybe a good cleaning will help. I also heard when your sand bed crashes (which is a strong term) but it slowly does less work until it quits working and then it releases the nitrates back maybe you have this going on. Might correct itself, but removing sand in 6"x6" areas cleaning it put it back and some fresh on top will speed the process up a lot. do one area a week just an idea? I think we add phos and trates constantly and constantly remove it. But eventually the sand and rocks get bound up and start to release it back. Its like you are using a plenum or dsb to remove it as it is added. Then your rock or sand or both get clogged up, then it starts to release it back when you test the levels are acceptable due to algae consuming it up to grow. So now you still add with feedings but on top of that the sand and rocks are adding as well, again just thinking it trough and it kind of makes sense.
: I’m going to try out the plenum in my 30g system. Ken i know you said you’d be happy to help, i just wanted to do some reading. I was checking out Garf, and saw they use a powerhead at first? and they had an “amount of sand calculator” i picked up 40lbs yesterday, and i think their calculator weighed me in at 53?
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