Split from Nmonk's sand topic

[Sheridanp]

I read you can also destroy Anaerobic pockets by using a straight coat hanger and stirring the sand gently?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Ah, found it at last! I caught a quick glimpse of this yesterday morning and then had to run (school run), then couldn't find it again. It's an excellent post- answered all my questions, thanks Neale! I think this one should be pinned. We get so many questions about sand and gravel; there must be loads of people like myself in need of guidance.
Just one question- where do you get hold of laterite?

 

[nmonks]

Sheridanp -- In theory, yes, you could open anaerobic pockets with a simple stir, but that would send the gas into the aquarium water, which might be bad if there was a lot of gas. The gas is toxic to fish. Much better to use fishes or snails (Malayan livebearers!) to clean the sand before the food turns nasty. I'd say keeping snails with sand is essential.

dwarfgourami -- Laterite can be bought from good aquarium stores, and can certainly be mail ordered. It is expensive though, at least compared with the gravel and sand. The upside is that you can get fantastic results if you are growing plants. Obviously you don't need in in a fish only aquarium or one planted with species of plant that take nutrients from the water (Java fern, hornwort, Vallisneria, etc.).

Cheers,

Neale

 

[BigIan]

Mr Monks, your a star!

I` added sand to my tank last week and was asking lots of questions all of wich you`ve just answerd,

Apart from where i can get the snails from?

 

[nmonks]

Thanks!

Malayan livebearing snails are, according to some people, a pest. So all you need do is find one of these benighted souls and ask for a dozen. Within a month, you will have hundreds. They are totally harmless, and never eat plants. They are perfect scavengers (far better than catfish). Best of all, they are nocturnal, so you don't usually see them. If you do see a mass exodus of them on the glass, especially at the top of the tank, it means something bad is about to happen to your aquarium. They're like miners' canaries: when the Malayan snails start panicking, then Houston, we have a problem.

If you overfeed the tank, you will get a population explosion. But better excess snails, which you can remove, then food rotting in the sand creating hydrogen sulphide!

Anyway, I got my snails by asking the guy in an aquarium store nicely.

Cheers,

Neale

Mr Monks, your a star!
Apart from where i can get the snails from?

 

[valleyrich]

Can you use those snails in a tank with gravel or do they need sand?

And I do think this should be pinned. It's loaded with great info!

 

[BigIan]

All hail Neale Monks!!

Thank you once again kind sir, For bestowing your fishly knowledge unto us!!!!

 

[nmonks]

Surely "snaily" knowledge?

Malayan livebearing snails will do fine in gravel. They also do well in brackish, up to about half strength seawater (!!!). They're really useful little critters, horribly maligned by being lumped along with snails as pests.

There is a gizmo called the LimCollect, a German device for catching snails. It's a bit like a lobster pot, they crawl in, but can't crawl out. If you get plague proportions of the things, then a trap like this might be useful. You can buy them outside of Germany if you need to, under the JBL brand.

Cheers,

Neale

Thank you once again kind sir, For bestowing your fishly knowledge unto us!!!!

 

[Neal]

A very good guide, but can you put 1cm of sand ontop of whatever you put under the sand without worrying about them air pockets? Like on your tank Neale, is it ok to do that if you just put 1cm of sand ontop of whatever you use?

 

[BigIan]

Surely "snaily" knowledge?

Ok don`t let the praise go to your head!

 

[Torrean]

I may have missed it but I don't think you talked about rinsing the sand. I put sand in a ten gallon the other day and it was much cheaper, cleaner, and easier than I expected. I took my empty 5 gallon tank outside and put a 1 inch layer of sand in the bottom. Then I used a water hose to fill the tank stirring the sand up as much as I could. As soon as the water reached the surface I dumped out almost all of the water so only the settled sand remained in the tank. I repeated this about 5-6 times and then filled the tank stirring the sand to see how long it took to clear. Within a count of 10 my water was completely clear. People talk about tanks taking days to clear. I lost a good bit of sand in the process but it was like 3 dollars for 50 lbs so no big deal. My fish love it btw and I do too. Oh I used playsand in case your wondering.

 

[BigIan]

i added the sand to my tank its about an inch and a half -2 inches in places and it took a day to clear,

but i know i didn`t wash it to well as it was a freesing cold day and i was getting wet

 

[Neal]

You say if I use mesh I can do it, but you don't seem to have mesh on yours?

It doesn't matter anyway, i'm just going to use a fine layer of black sand, and if i'm lucky ill try and find some "gold nuggets" to mix in...

 

[nmonks]

Neal -- no didn't use mesh on mine, partly because of the shape I was sculpting, but also because silica sand would run straight through it. If the mesh is too fine, the snails won't be able to get through it, and they're important for keeping the sand clean.

Torrean -- Cleaning is important but if you don't, it isn't a big deal. I've added raw sand to the tank and it's gone completely murky... and let the filter remove the silt. Then return or add the fish. Bits of silt in the water looks nasty, but the fish don't mind. They're adapted (usually) do silty or murky water. It's the invisible pollution -- nitrites and ammonia -- that harms them.

Cheers,

NEale

 

[Neal]

Neale, I'm not sure on what to do, i'm just going to get black sand I think, and i'm not getting any snails as i've heard they are messy. I'm getting shrimp though and some ottos. Maybe some worm/eel things... So my sand will be turned over quite a bit, and i'm only going to use a 1.5cm layer or something close to that. Would 1.5cm layer be ok if I didn't like move it? Would it be deep enough for air pockets to form or would it be ok?

Also, would you recommend me getting some snails, but are they messy and are they easy to maintain and do they need a certain size tank and do they go well in community tanks?
Thanks in advance,
Neal