Zeovit and DSB

[Tomahawk Chop]

Bad idea?

I am really attached to the look of my DSB and the added security it provides me with the thought of live rock potentially cracking the bottom of my tank. Thoughts?

[fkadir]

Im currently using a DSB with zeovit. Once Zeovit has 'sucked' up all the locked nutrients from the DSB, it will be ok. It will take much longer for ZEOvit to get to stage 3 when compared to a BB tank but it will get there sooner or later. Agreed that the sand makes the tank look more natural but i am in the process of thinning the sandbed to a mere 1 inch or so. Sucking up a bit at every water change.

IMHO, Zeovit works best with a BB tank as u can crank up the flow and circulation without the dreaded sandstorms and keep as much detritus suspended as possible.

As for cracking the tank bottom , maybe you can look at a starboard bottom? It would protect the glass from rockfalls etc etc?

[Tomahawk Chop]

My concern with the starboard is what may get underneath it. Wouldn't that cause as much if not more problems then a DSB? As I am in the middle of earthquake country rock falling and cracking the bottom of my glass tank is a real concern for me. That coupled with the idea of removing everything from my tank to take out the sand and potentially recycling my tank or making it a toxic mess from the sand frightens me.

[fkadir]

Yeah, my sentiments exactly on the huge mess of removing the sandbed completely. There are lots of ppl running zeovit with DSB without any issues and zeovit will work with a DSB but it will take a longer period for you to reach stage 3. Thats all So there is no absolute need to remove the DSB.

hth

[Adam]

Take that nasty sand out!!! (I did and wow the results!!!)

No really seareously(spelled wrong, of corse)
you will LOVE BB, you will!!!



you wiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :smash:

[Diesel3443]

Tomahawk, If you klike your DSB go ahead and keep it . Farish is correct I will just take longer for your nutrient sink to be depleted. I believe Invice uses a DSB and if you take a look at his avatar you can see the great colors that he is getting

[zcom]

I had the same questions when starting. I've kept the DSB, mostly because I finally have a tank that has grown spectacularly, and the last thing I want to do is rip the whole thing apart and start over. I would slowly siphon out sand, but when I laid it down I put southdown underneath, coarser grain on top: a syphon would leave me with southdown soup, especially with the high flow I have. However, I do think it took me longer to deplete my pooled phosphates than it otherwise would have.

I'm really happy with color, so I don't think it will be a detriment:





Arthur

[dphinsx2]

For you guys that have a dsb and using zeo, do you think your sand is cleaner then a tank not using zeo? What I am getting at is, zeo is a low nutrient enviroment and it doesn't seem possible with a dsb. Everybody knows of all the nasty stuff in your sand. If you use zeo, isn't all that nasty stuff still going to be in your sand? Doesn't all that gunk lead to phosphates?

[zcom]

In my case, I started zeo only a few months after starting the DSB. In addition, this might explain why some of us take longer than others to deplete pooled phosphates.

Arthur