Aquarium Playsand Question

[basboi85]

Was speaking to my mate About 10 mins ago and he said that with play sand that's in your aquarium it has to be stirred up every 6-8 weeks as methane gas builds up under the sand and obv methane will kill the fish.

Obv by that time i would've done my weekly changes ect and I do a big water change every 6 weeks so I'll obv give the sand a good stir up any way

Is this true about the gases ??

 

[onidrase]

I've heard a lot of things about gas build up. Some say methane, some say sulphur, people say a lot of things. I've never personally had any gas buildup catastrophes, or even seen any gas or anything under the sand, and I never stir it up.

 

[m_attt]

it depends how deep the sand is, and it does happen. wile moving a few plants ive had a load of bubbles come up out of the sand and the gas stunk.

 

[Zante]

Could it be a bit of de-nitrification going on in the sand? After all that is how a deep sand bed works in a marine tank. In that case it would be perfectly harmless nitrogen.

 

[basboi85]

Got me wondering as I wasnt sure if it was the good old romour that's been passed and twisted a thousand times

 

[fluttermoth]

The gas is hydrogen sulphide and, allegedly, it oxidises if it hits water and becomes non-toxic, so it won't harm fish, although I have known a few people who've disagreed with that.

I've had sand of various kinds in four or five of my tanks for about two years and haven't had any problems, I don't bother stirring it or anything, just 'hoover' the top layer.

 

[dbanner]

I had a dark layer of something building up under play sand when I used it (Argos play sand). I take it this is what you mean by the gas build up if it's not stirred around frequently?

It built up in a matter of 4 - 6 weeks. Didn't cause any harm to the fish but it doesn't look too nice between the sand