Mayja's RSR 450 Reef Adventure!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mayja

Mayja

Social Media Moderator
RS STAFF
Someone from a Facebook Red Sea Reefer fan page commented on my photo that my sand was too high. I explained that I will possibly have a goby/pistol shrimp combo and/or a jawfish, but she insisted that it was still too high (3-4").

@Wrangy, @nanoreefing4fun, @DianaKay, @StirCrayzy, @Pat24601 or anyone else...Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Mayja

Mayja

Social Media Moderator
RS STAFF
Snelly40 said:
i'm really loving the gyre reviews and vids... could you please post how you are liking it?
Click to expand...

@Snelly40, I have added water to my tank and the gyre is functioning. Here are my first thoughts:

It's SILENT - can't hear it at all. I pushed it up to full power when I was messing with it and I couldn't hear it. It's really easy to program. I've currently got it centered in my tank and it's switching between forward and reverse flows to create a bunch of turbulence and surface agitation. I have it at a low power setting right now so it doesn't dig a huge hole in the sand (which it can very easily do). It's working beautifully!
 
Snelly40

Snelly40

Well-Known Member
Mayja said:
@Snelly40, I have added water to my tank and the gyre is functioning. Here are my first thoughts:

It's SILENT - can't hear it at all. I pushed it up to full power when I was messing with it and I couldn't hear it. It's really easy to program. I've currently got it centered in my tank and it's switching between forward and reverse flows to create a bunch of turbulence and surface agitation. I have it at a low power setting right now so it doesn't dig a huge hole in the sand (which it can very easily do). It's working beautifully!
Click to expand...



grreat to hear!!! i do appreciate the update and definately going to look into one of these guys!!
 
mtsully71

mtsully71

Well-Known Member
Mayja said:
Someone from a Facebook Red Sea Reefer fan page commented on my photo that my sand was too high. I explained that I will possibly have a goby/pistol shrimp combo and/or a jawfish, but she insisted that it was still too high (3-4").

@Wrangy, @nanoreefing4fun, @DianaKay, @StirCrayzy, @Pat24601 or anyone else...Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a sack of cats question :biggrin:. Really, personal preference. Some prefer deeper beds for critters and some like the shallow beach look (vacuum fun). Mine is like yours about 3-4 inches I would guess, I just dumped in 80lbs and said damn that looks good and height is sufficient...........I have the goby/pistol pair and they like the depth. I like the burrowing critters. I do not feel the need to disturb the anaerobic and anoxic bacteria processes in the sand, a light top sand dusting maybe. But I don't mess with it. It can be like creating a mini cycle if I am correct.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
mtsully71 said:
Wow, that's a sack of cats question :biggrin:. Really, personal preference. Some prefer deeper beds for critters and some like the shallow beach look (vacuum fun). Mine is like yours about 3-4 inches I would guess, I just dumped in 80lbs and said damn that looks good and height is sufficient...........I have the goby/pistol pair and they like the depth. I like the burrowing critters. I do not feel the need to disturb the anaerobic and anoxic bacteria processes in the sand, a light top sand dusting maybe. But I don't mess with it. It can be like creating a mini cycle if I am correct.
Click to expand...

There are definitely people way more experienced than I am on these forums on this topic. So, I can really only speak from what I researched when I was doing this as I have a shallow bed, but I have read quite a bit on this and what mtsully wrote was going to be my answer.

It seems to be a heavily debated topic what sand depth is best and what are the real pros and cons. As a result, I can't think of why someone would categorically state a 3 - 4" sandbed is 'bad". It seems like there are pros and cons and people do both with success.

I would assume their concern is that it might build up and eventually release toxins in the deeper part of the sand bed if disturbed. That seems to be the major concern I read about anyway. It's unclear to me if that concern is legitimate or theoretical and I have no first hand knowledge to rely on. I've read well qualified expert opinions that imply that's all bunk and I've read opinions that it's the cause of Old Tank Syndrome and should be guarded against.

I guess the bottom line is that if I intended to have a goby/pistol, I'd have a 3 - 4" sand bed based on what I know now. I don't see any basis I've read to say that having a sand bed of that depth is categorically wrong. People seem to do it regularly on purpose and it works well for them.

See if anyone else has a different view. I can only speak from what I've read, as mentioned. My personal sandbed is shallow.
 
Mayja

Mayja

Social Media Moderator
RS STAFF
mtsully71 said:
Wow, that's a sack of cats question :biggrin:.
Click to expand...

That's my new favorite phrase. OMG that's funny!

Awesome. I prefer a deeper sand bed simply because I know my critters who like to dig are happier, and I never had an issue with disturbing the bacteria/tank crash with my previous sand bed of the same depth. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something. I'm using 100 lbs of sand and 100 lbs of rock.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Mayja said:
That's my new favorite phrase. OMG that's funny!

Awesome. I prefer a deeper sand bed simply because I know my critters who like to dig are happier, and I never had an issue with disturbing the bacteria/tank crash with my previous sand bed of the same depth. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something. I'm using 100 lbs of sand and 100 lbs of rock.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me.
 
Mayja

Mayja

Social Media Moderator
RS STAFF
Tank started cycling 6/1.

First tests taken 6/5:

Ammonia
12b172aa1369885c2fb504cab7eba45e.jpg


Nitrite
870082d3ae0ae309fb875989527bfbc4.jpg


Nitrate
15cd693ef80036344a677c7669bd95b4.jpg
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Mayja said:
Someone from a Facebook Red Sea Reefer fan page commented on my photo that my sand was too high. I explained that I will possibly have a goby/pistol shrimp combo and/or a jawfish, but she insisted that it was still too high (3-4").

@Wrangy, @nanoreefing4fun, @DianaKay, @StirCrayzy, @Pat24601 or anyone else...Thoughts?
Click to expand...

One thing your going to find out over time is that many people know very little about reef systems. There have been so many threads on sandbeds in RS and it's rather obvious that while there are preferences, there is no right or wrong answer. Since you want a "goby/pistol shrimp combo and/or a jawfish" the sandbed depth is correct for them.

IMHO, the "Facebook Red Sea Reefer fan" can go "jump in a lake". You are free to use your own favorite expression here. I have mine, but it's not suitable for a family type web site like RS.
 
mtsully71

mtsully71

Well-Known Member
DaveK said:
One thing your going to find out over time is that many people know very little about reef systems. There have been so many threads on sandbeds in RS and it's rather obvious that while there are preferences, there is no right or wrong answer. Since you want a "goby/pistol shrimp combo and/or a jawfish" the sandbed depth is correct for them.

IMHO, the "Facebook Red Sea Reefer fan" can go "jump in a lake". You are free to use your own favorite expression here. I have mine, but it's not suitable for a family type web site like RS.
Click to expand...
:applause:
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Mayja said:
Decided to try out an algae scrubber to pair up with my protein skimmer since I'm not doing a refugium. Just purchased the HOG1.3 from @SantaMonica. Always love to use our sponsors whenever I can!
Click to expand...

I bought one too. I still need to install it. Twin boys eating up all my time and all if that. Let me know what you think of it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top