low sand

brent6969 said:

I only have about a half inch of sand in my 10g. Is this enough or should i get some dead sand and add it. If i were to add live sand would that make my tank cycle again or waht?

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Live sand won't make your tank cycle again but it could cause an ammonia (and then nitrite) spike if anything were to die en route. IMO you have the perfect amount of sand. I don't think deep sand beds are good. Shallow sand beds or bare bottom is more like it.

brent6969 said:

thanks for the reply. DOn't you get the bacteria that gets rid of ammonia from your sand? so how could you have a bare bottom.

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Live rock works wonderfully.

I remember when ReefCentral's Dr. Randy Holmes Farley (mod of the chemistry forum) and Dr. Ron (mod of the Ask Dr. Ron forum) got into a debate over deep sand beds. Dr. Ron, a proponent of deep sand beds, lost that one, IMO.

It turns out you need all kinds of micro-fauna to keep a DSB going. It's so complicated Dr. Ron even offered advanced online courses on how to maintain it, which required if you can believe it, a good microscope.