# Deep Sand Bed low maintenance 70litre



## FWDSB (28 Apr 2012)

Hi to all this is my first proper post on this forum, just been reading since registering so much info so little brain space remaining lol.
So as the title suggests I would like to do a deep sand bed low tech tank, the main reason being to be honest I am quite lazy and hate the old weekly water change scenario I currently face with my 190l which just has some fine'ish gravel of a horrible colour, think it was called roman gravel anyway a truly bad choice on my part and some massive amazon swords the water changes kill me.
I have a 70 litre which I used to use for a hospital/quarantine tank however it is now sitting empty, so I thought before taking the plunge on switching the big tank over I would try it on a small scale.
My main question is has anyone on this forum ever tried one? if so how did it go ?
As it would appear this practice is almost unheard of amongst us uk hobbyists however I have found limited evidence of people in the US especially San Francisco having great success with this type of bed here is a link to my main source of info for this little endeavour http://wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_7/volume_7_1/dsb.html.
As I said earlier I am struggling to find anyone else who has tried this as a result I am struggling to even find someone to supply me the sand  .
My goal with any luck is to create a self sustaining tank which will need minimal interference from me other than feeding the fish. 
So I guess my other question is do people think this idea has potential?


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## ceg4048 (29 Apr 2012)

Hello,
         If you have a planted tank then all of this is rendered moot. You don't need any deep bed as the plants will do all the things listed in that article. There are plenty of people here using the non-water change technique, but the requirement is that the plants are fed and that there is a sufficient mass of plants to do the job. All you need to do is to top up the water when it evaporates and do perhaps one or two water changes per year. Use any gravel you want, including sand, kitty litter or any clay gravel. This is not a big deal and there is no need for exotic schemes, juts populate the tank with plants and keep them healthy by regular feeding - and no added CO2. This last point is important.

Cheers,


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## FWDSB (29 Apr 2012)

Hi thanks for the reply, although I understand that I can achieve a non water change system with a normal planted aquarium by way of feeding the plants as well as the fish. I am really interested in achieving a fully self sustainable mini eco-system i.e no fert dosing at all and just minimal feeding of the fish. Hopefully mimicking the reality of a small pond or something similar, where the plants don't necessarily thrive but survive and all of the plants nutrients are obtained from the breakdown of the mulm through the substrate rather then me adding any fert's. Of course I don't even know if this would be possible but hey it happens in ponds and lakes surely.
Besides surely having a bed of substrate and then doing regular fert dosing is more exotic then having a deep substrate bed with planting and no dosing required or am I missing the point completely, it is possible I am very new to this planted aquarium thing   . Thanks for the input although I guess you are not to convinced by the idea?
Any good reading you could suggest on planted aquaria in general? As I am sure you can tell I am no expert lol.


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## BigTom (29 Apr 2012)

At the risk of self-pimping, you may find the info in my two threads useful for a non-DSB take on a self sustaining setup 

http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14521
http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... =tentative

And also this, for another example of how it can be done -

http://www.tuncalik.com/2009/09/biotope-in-my-study/


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## FWDSB (29 Apr 2012)

Wow BigTom that is an amazing tank I haven't had a chance to read through in depth yet but that's definitely an inspiration absolutely amazing. Although I am sure that I am unlikely to pull off anything near that, how does the nitrogen cycle complete in this situation I am assuming it is a similar process to the dsb without the anoxic region, is this correct or am I way off the mark? Sorry if my questions seem stupid or ignorant but I am not in any way very science savvy being a mechanic lol. So I am struggling to get my head round how the cycle differs between a normal planted setup which requires no water changes and the dsb approach :? How deep is your substrate ? do you have any snails worms etc to turn the substrate for you? Any other links that could help a layman like myself to get his head around the whole topic would also be great. Thanks for the useful links I am trying to wade through all the info but I might have to take a break my head feels like it may explode lol


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## BigTom (29 Apr 2012)

To be honest I never thought about it in that much depth. It's just a normal, low tech planted tank really (similar to a 'Walstead' style approach), with the addition of riparian plants, a larger than normal area:volume ratio and a very light stocking.

Substrate is about an inch of soil capped with an inch of sand. No worms or trumpet snails, rely on plant roots for oxygenation.

The premise never got more complicated than having enough plants compared to livestock to handle the waste, with occasional (bi-monthly or so) water changes 'just in case'.


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