Does a DSB work the same in a fw as it does in a sw?

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Lazersniper

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I'm not sure if this belongs here or in sw but it's more of a question involving fw. I was just curiouse about this. In SW tanks Deep Sand Beds are very popular. Part of their use is to help rid of nitrates.

My question is will this same idea work in a fw tank, assuming that there are no digging fish in the tank? I'm assuming that the salt alone isn't what generates the anerobes.
 
im not a real expert on this but its my understanding that any areas with bad water flow...ie sand beds because they are so compact...are a home for the bad bacteria...but let someone else chime in to get a for sure answer!
 
I believe it should but the other part of the equation is having detrivores in the tank to sift the sandbed and consume organic matter. I am not sure if there are enough in a freshwater tank with fish to do it properly. And the other issue of course is the expense of water changes-cheap for fw-so why mess with the sandbed?
 
Wouldn't snails in fw do the same thing as snails in the sw tanks? Then again I suppose they're main purpose is for algae... but something has to keep the balance in fw bodies. What about ghost shrimp? or crayfish?? or small fw crabs??

In a sw tank most of the 'clean up crew' is just a bunch of snails and small crabs, with some shrimp.
 
I have sand in my FW tank, It ramges from about 1in to 3in in places. I ave a couple if digging fish (Bloodparrot, pleco etc) in there and they keep shifting it and moving little hills around etc.

The tank jhas only been running for a few weeks (fully cycled ofcourse) and I havent had any problems yet.

If you can make it work it does look really nice. (I must post some pics up actually, keep an eye out for them :))
 
MTS are the only snail that burrow through the sand like many of the creatures in SW tanks. But in the end you are putting yourself at risk of anaerobic bacteria escaping into the tank and killing all your fish.
 
Sorry to go a little off topic.... What are aneariboc bacteria exactly because now I am a little worried?
 
Originally posted by TKOS
MTS are the only snail that burrow through the sand like many of the creatures in SW tanks. But in the end you are putting yourself at risk of anaerobic bacteria escaping into the tank and killing all your fish.
Click to expand...

Ok, I will admit that I am no where near an expert on this. There are those in this forum that know so much on this topic than I.
But here is my 2 cents worth on the snails, sand and everything else.
I tried a little experiment with a 55 brackish tank with sand and Malaysian Trumpet snail. The snails thrived in the tank and did a marvelous job at keeping things clean. I keep them in every tank that will have them. But I found that the tank wasn't getting fully sifted and was having dead spots. The sand bed was very shallow but I just kept on having the problems with anaerobic spots and just gave up and turned the tank into a SW tank.
I was always under the camp of not using sand for my FW tanks, only SW but thought I would try it as an Experiment, which didn't go so well.
If you want to try to use a sand, try onyx sand, its a larger grain and works much better for your tank. Stay away from the powder sugar sized grain for FW.

jim
 
That is sort of what I meant. SW tanks have a lot more variety of sand sifters to keep things happy.

Anerobic bacteria, by the way, are bacteria that thrive in oxygen free environments. As sand compacts in DSB's it gets spots that are free of oxygen. When these spots get released they can bring with them bacteria that is poisonous to oxygen life forms and has the possibility of wiping out an entire tank. Do a search in the freshwater forums for anerobic.
 
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