Argos Play Sand

[awilson360]

Hi guys,

I moved some of the sand from my 18x12x12 into my 24x12x15 and the sand smelt so bad. It smelt of manure. The sand has only been in the tank about a week. Just wondering if this is normal? Or would this be fish poo making the sand smell bad?

Thanks,
AW

 

[Twinklecaz]

I've never noticed that the sand smells but then I've never got that close to it. I guess a usual fish tank smell would be normal on it though.

 

[Ashley1991]

cant say there is a wiff coming from my tank and i also use it in a vivarium with a bearded dragon and that smells fine too

ash

 

[awilson360]

cant say there is a wiff coming from my tank and i also use it in a vivarium with a bearded dragon and that smells fine too

ash

I only really got a huge whiff after removing the wet sand from the aquarium and leaving it in a bucket on its own. I'm thinking it might be because of Anaerobic bacteria because it smelt a bit sulphurish? but then again the sand was used for less than a week anyway! Will plop some MTS in tomorrow to stir up the sand!

AW

 

[fluffycabbage]

well, tbh i havent got the sand out and smelt it will be interesting to see if it does though, mines been in just over a week i think now. Might have a sniff later

 

[fishnovice]

Thers's something wrong with your sand, shuoldn't smell unless you were seriously overfeeding and it was full of rotting food and maybe dead fish.Had Argos sand in my tank for 3 months before moving to a larger tank. Absolutely no smell when I moved it and afer 6 months it's still clean and almost odourless. Even used sand in tank with large plec for a while, again no bad smell considering theamount of poo plecs produce. Used left over sand which had been in a bag for months recently and it didn't smell either

 

[kelvinrankin767]

i had a load of dead plant roots i couldent get to in my old sand tank and it smelt relly bad that could be a possibilty maby dead snails in the sand or food, dead fish maby lots of different things could be the cause but it shouldent smell bad put it like that

 

[awilson360]

i had a load of dead plant roots i couldent get to in my old sand tank and it smelt relly bad that could be a possibilty maby dead snails in the sand or food, dead fish maby lots of different things could be the cause but it shouldent smell bad put it like that

Well theres only a Betta and 4 Corydoras in there so I know there isn't a dead fish hidden away. My shrimp is swimming about fine and I only have Elodea Densa, Amazon Sword and Anubias Nana on a piece of bogwood and they are all healthy and fine. Maybe its the Corydoras food tablets contaminating the sand? One Tetra Tabimin is quite big for 4 Corydoras to consume?

AW

 

[Curiosity101]

I would imagine it could be that the sand either hadn't been turned over enough or that the layer you used was slightly thicker than recommended. I wouldn't use more than 1.5" of sand in a tank. Sand is much denser than gravel so you don't need as much to still be able to plant.

 

[BethK]

After 4 months of sand being in my tank, it smelt like fishwater (you know the smell of water when you're doing a water change) but other than that, not a bad smell.

Maybe, as curiosity has said, it just needs turning over.

Just out of interest, where there any airbubbles in the sand layers?

 

[Harlequins]

I agree with curiosity,give the sand a stir on weekly w/c's it should be fine,its may have have built up gas pockets in the sand,and once disturbed lets off a sulphur smell.

 

[awilson360]

I agree with curiosity,give the sand a stir on weekly w/c's it should be fine,its may have have built up gas pockets in the sand,and once disturbed lets off a sulphur smell.

I must say that the layer of sand was quite thick, probably between the 1.5 - 2 inches range.
After stirring it around in a bucket there was quite a lot of Anacharis leaves in ir so maybe that was the problem! I've re-sanded the tank and its roughly 1 inch all the way round. I've also added some MTS's so hopefully that will cure it!

Thanks,
AW