Those poor fish...

Originally posted by Riptide
By george, this is a really confusing thing. Corax and others clearly know what they are talking about. Yet others who also have experience have told me the exact opposite: keep the coral if you're not doing a reef. Who do you believe?
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I have yet to see any documented, scientific evidence that a deep sand bed is the way to go, or even has any real advantage over CC or even bare bottom.

I did it for asthetics, and it does look better.

As for the rock, I may have damaged/killed/smothered life on mine due to the conversion. It was a mess from Sunday morning, 11 a.m., until Wednesday evening/Thursday morning. Keep in mind that I added the Magnum Wednesday night and let it run for 24 hours. It remained a mess for so long as after I put the sand in, I couldn't see anything in order to landscape, so I had to stir it up 2 more times.
 
Very provocative that pdf file is...

Seems to say, and I haven't examined it fully, that the key to success is good lighting, lots of live rock, and organic carbon removal.

They go on to say that bio-wheels and the like may be a plus, but they aren't the primary concern. The aforementioned are the primary concerns. Further, they found no increased nitrate in their test system with the bio-wheels.

Again, who to believe right? ;)

Some quotes from that file:
"While replication is needed in future tests,
the results of this experiment show that minireef
aquaria with dedicated biological filters do
not exhibit higher nitrate-nitrogen
concentrations when compared to other types
of filtration methods."

"The most often asked question, in terms of
setting-up a mini-reef aquarium, is what
filtration system should one use? The results of
this test show that the filter system most likely
plays a secondary role. To be successful, over
the long term, one needs a large amount of live
rock, a good lighting system, and an organic
carbon removal system. Having a dedicated
biological filter may be an added plus but it is
certainly not a detriment to the goal of settingup
and maintaining a healthy mini-reef
aquarium."
 
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True. But, I tend to belive things like this more than what I hear on forums. No offense to those who mention it here, but there doesn't seem to be an increase in Nitrates with a wet/dry system, which is why I'm keeping it.

Granted, this is only one test, but it is a documented test in a controlled environment, so I believe it has merit.

Just my thoughts...
 
Originally posted by llebcire


I have yet to see any documented, scientific evidence that a deep sand bed is the way to go, or even has any real advantage over CC or even bare bottom.
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Then clearly you don't read much. Anyone of any importance in this industry will tell you that a DSB and LR are the way to go. I wonder if FISH WHISPERER might be reading this thread? Oh Monty, you out there big man??? I wish he'd chime in and throw down his 2 cents on this.

As for the pdf from Marineland, well just color me shocked that they said a Biowheel, which they just happen to sell, would be a good thing for your tank. I think anyone gullible enough to take that "study" at face value deserves to be parted from his $ ;)
 
Originally posted by Corax


Then clearly you don't read much. Anyone of any importance in this industry will tell you that a DSB and LR are the way to go. I wonder if FISH WHISPERER might be reading this thread? Oh Monty, you out there big man??? I wish he'd chime in and throw down his 2 cents on this.

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That's all good and well...but...

I am always looking for information, and this is the only thing that I've seen in print (so-to-speak) as of late. I too have heard an abundance of people from this and other forums claim that both ways are appropriate, (i.e. wet/dry vs. DSB/LR; DSB vs. CC, etc.), so I have a tendency to search for documented case studies such as the afore mentioned.

If anyone has a link or publicaton that has done a similar study, then please point me to it!

Thanks!
 
For the record, I do want to state that I believe that a sandbed is beneficial to an aquarium, although I tend to believe that CC may be as effective.

I am not ready to dump my wet/dry though.
 
Originally posted by Corax
As for the pdf from Marineland, well just color me shocked that they said a Biowheel, which they just happen to sell, would be a good thing for your tank. I think anyone gullible enough to take that "study" at face value deserves to be parted from his $ ;)
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I would be careful about dismissing things out of hand like that just because of the source. Attack the material instead. Find out what they did wrong according to the details of the experiment and explain it.

Similarly, I don't necessarily dismiss everything out of hand I read in the LA times just because it's a liberal slanted newspaper. I read the article with a critical eye and then make a decision on whether it's tripe or not.

I don't deny that bias here is possible, even probable. That doesn't necessarily mean that the experiment was rigged or flawed, however. :)
 
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