Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
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Bob Goemans corresponds with Chris

Chris writes...

Dear Bob,

I enjoyed your website. I guess that the biggest problem is that there will always be a huge debate over the dsb and plenum methods. Since I've been in the hobby, I've set up several tanks for myself. 3 were plenum equipped, 2 with dsb's and 1 ecosystem. 2 plenum tanks were extremely successful. So successful that the reason for the 3rd one was that the other 2 couldn't handle all of the grow out. But unfortunately, the third one wasn't so successful. As a matter of fact, it within weeks, all corals began to die. I only managed to save several zooanthid colonies, a green moon coral, and some xenia. I decided to transform this system into an ecosystem mud style filter with lighting over the caulerpa 24/7 and no skimming. That method polished off the last of my hardiest corals and caused drastic increases in a once minor aptasia problem. Deep sand beds were attempted in other aquariums, one being my mothers seahorse tank. Algae in these dsb tanks were so bad that I had to physically remove the rocks and scrub them.

I have since removed the dsb form the seahorse tank and daisy chained a plenum equipped tank underneath. After about a month, we no longer remove the rocks from the tank to scrub clean. There are very few janitors in the tank... less than one per gallon and at most, we have to use a mag-float once a week to clean a slight film that grows on the glass. I do not know why I am being so stubborn about adding this dsb into my main display while having an equal sized aquarium housing a plenum. I guess I am just getting too wrapped up into the debate and can't help but feeling that maybe I did something wrong with the dsb aquariums, even though I've waited the same amount of time that I did with the plenum before adding any livestock. I know what I did wrong when I set up my 3rd plenum that failed... I set up a 90 gallon using the existing sand from my other 2 aquariums along with some new "dead" sand that had to be added to make 4 inches, and added in all of the livestock form the other 2 aquariums to the 90 in one day. I never gave that system a chance. And due to time restrictions ( a poor excuse at the truest sense of the word) I wasn't doing my minor amounts of required maintenance. I'm not going to say that I think the dsb method is wrong. I'm sure there is more or less that I could have done to make it more successful. Reguardless, I will go with a very shallow 2-4mm thick sand bed on the bottom of the main display. 1/4 to 1/2" thick

As for the comments by Dr. ron... or whatever they call him, His insults of you truly were unprofessional. If you were to ask me, I'd say that he is just trying to take your audience away. He chose to attack someone personally rather than focus on why his method is better. Right or wrong as per his method being better than someone else's, he showed bad business and poor tact in his direct criticism. I wouldn't even bother acknowledging him on your site.

Chris

Bob replies...

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your honesty and a well-written letter! Unfortunately there are people in this hobby that would rather attack new thinking as they find it a way to keep their name in front of the masses or benefit their business. Honestly, an aquarist can have a great system using any method, i.e., undergravel filter, DSB, plenum, Berlin method, shallow bed system, and/or bare bottom tank! The most important thing is understanding the capability and limitations of the method used in relation to the bioload desired. Once those two aspects are in tune, any type method will result in a great system!

As for the plenum method, my only goal there is to have aquarists understand its capabilities. What they do with it after that does not put money in my pocket. But if they do understand its capabilities it does make me feel like I've accomplished something to benefit my hobby and our wet pets!

Cheers,

Bob

Keywords:

Plenum; Eco-System Method; Deep Sandbed Method

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