Poland Spring bottle in tank?

[waltercat]

Will there be a problem if I have 6-8 12 oz. poland spring bottle in my aquarium for a long time. I wanted to do a DSB but do not have the room for one in a sump cuz I won't have a sump. I figured I could make the DSB in 12oz plastic bottles and then cover them with rock. That way I can always remove them and change the sand to avoid any nutrient overload problems.

My concern is that the bottle will affect the chemistry of the tank. WIll it or the glue on the outside, even when washed off, affect the chemistry?

 

[John]

not really understanding what your trying to accomplish. If you want a DSB the way to avoid "nutrient overload problems" is to leave the sand bed alone and let it do its job. You will have many more problems if every week your taking it out to exchange it with new sand.

 

[aaron23]

how do you make a deep sand bed with poland spring bottles sorry but im lost.

 

[jackson6745]

Waltercat this is one of the strangest things I have heard If you wash the glue off the bottles, the plastic should not effect the tank.

 

[dreko]

I think this is a variation of members who run a DSB in a sump. (They have the option of isolating and replace the sandbed in case of problems.)

A very interesting variation!

 

[GQ22]

That completely defeats the purpose of a deep sand bed, i believe a deep sand is meant to trap dietrus and have organisms living in the sand bed break it down. how would dieturs get to the sand bed if its in a bottle. Are you talking about a half bottle sawed off and then u can remove it anytime u want? if so that maybe a good idea.

 

[GQ22]

u would have to used a large gallon jug if u used the sawed off method, personally i think its just better to go without a bottle.

 

[masterswimmer]

To say I'm confused would be an understatement. This has to be one of the most 'outside the box (or bottle)' ideas to cross my path.

Could you be a bit more detailed in your explanation of how you plan to accomplish this.

master

 

[herman]

That will be very asthetically pleasing. WE WANT PICS!!! :funnypost

 

[ezee]

Hey all,

lol! I think what he means is his tank would be bare bottom but he would have sand in bottles underneath his rock to substitute for the DSB. Creative but I am not sure it would work, given that part of how a sand bed works is the detritus needs to hit the sand bed. You also won't get any flow over the sand.

E

 

[masterswimmer]

Sand in an enclosed bottle? Are you sure E? I don't mean with the lid on it, but even with it off it's no better.

master

 

[waltercat]

I'll take some photos of my plan. I am trying to do a variation of the remote DSB. I do not plan to change the DSB at all unless I have a nutrient problem years down the line. By keeping the sand in multiple bottles (5" deep) I will create an anaerobic environment for filtration. Multiple bottles will create a more efficient anaerobic environment as the narrow top will cut down on the exposure to O2. ALso by having multiple bottles i can change the sand in smaller quantities, avoiding large disturbances in my sand bed. And best of all removing them will be much easier on me and the tank inhabitants as it will not create a sand storm and not flood the tank with harmful by products of anaerobic reactions.

I guess now that I think about it detrirus will be cut down in the DSB as well as it will be difficult for junk to enter the bottles and settle.

The rest of the tank will probably have 1-2" of sand, mainly because I like the look of it and also I will want to have a sand goby.

 

[masterswimmer]

walter, have you seen a setup done like this? From all practical purposes, it doesn't sound feasible.

master

 

[waltercat]

From hearing everyone's comments, the concern seems to be water flow. I'm not quite sure why water flow is important through a DSB. If there was water flow through a DSB, wouldn't there be O2 in there as well, thus nullifying the purpose of a DSB.

I have not done this method before, nor have I seen it done. Whether that makes it a good or bad idea... that's why we have nifty boards like this to discuss. It seems feasible to me.

Maybe I should do some sort of container has screens on each end to allow for water flow yet still provide easy removal. Can anyone think of a plastic container 5"H x 5"D x 20"L that is fine enough to hold aragonite, but porous enough to allow water flow.

My original plan was to corner off the back corner of the tank with 2 peices of plexiglass and use that as my DSB. That is still an option. However the bottles seems good. Maybe I'll cut the tops off for more surface area on the top.

 

[masterswimmer]

If you were to split the bottle in half, the long way, then I can see that being feasible. But with absolutely no water being able to flow across it and no detritus to settle on it to support the microfauna I honestly don't think it can work. Remember, the DSB's that are open top (standard substrate), have sand sifters, water flow, detritus, microfauna, etc. Limiting the entry/exit to an inch with all that sand behind it, seems ineffective, IMO.

I like the idea of thinking outside the box. I do that all the time. The important part of these threads is for you to get some conversation going that might bring something to light that you didn't consider before implementing your plan. Like I said, cutting the bottles lenghtwise seems much more effective......once again, IMO.

Russ

 

[ezee]

Walter,

I agree with Russ, very out of the box (or in the bottle) thinking.

I think to make it work you will have to put a lot of time into it but you never know. If it is something that really appeals to you, you should try it. It is probably one of the safer experiments that I have heard of.

E

 

[aaron23]

you can not substitute sand bottles for deep sand bed. I mean where is the flow going to come from through the substrate etc. How would that work... bottles with sand ..........

 

[Tonyscoots84]

as ezee has said which seems like something he wants to do.. pretty much he wants to get the advantages of a dsb that contribute the buffering of many parameters, and the denitrification of nitrates from a small 12 oz bottle filled with sand... correct me if im wrong waltercat.. dont think it will work the way u think it will.. but hey its worth a shot...

 

[masterswimmer]

you can not substitute sand bottles for deep sand bed. I mean where is the flow going to come from through the substrate etc. How would that work... bottles with sand ..........

Aaron, I agree you can't substitute the bottles for a DSB. However, in our tanks with deep or shallow sandbeds, there is no flow through the substrate. We do use sandsifting critters, worms, pods, snails, so on and so forth, but there is no flow, or you'd have a sandstorm constantly.

Russ

 

[masterswimmer]

I was just thinking about this a bit more. You won't get the benefit of the denitrifying effect without water at least running over the surface of the SB. You're creating a closed environment within a closed environment.

I'm really trying to come up with some positives here, believe it or not, but everytime I think about it, I'm coming up with roadblocks.

Russ