i was thinking about getting some MTS for my tank are they any good for irrigating the substrate ?
They're GREAT for irrigating (or rather "tilling" or "stirring" - don't really need to irrigate when the substrate's underwater, right?) the substrate - HOWEVER - they're even BETTER at reproducing. People will tell you that if you don't overfeed your fish, you won't have a problem, and maybe that's true. But in
my personal experience, MTS are a lot more resourceful than people give them credit for.
Mine seemed to figure out that my plants (live or dead) were a viable food source. After they had that epiphany, my overfeeding wasn't really an issue, since they seemed to acquire a taste for "fresh veggies."
Plus, I've heard (AFTER I introduced the TWO MTS to my tank, naturally) that, if you have live plants, their roots do a pretty good job of keeping those pockets of yuck in the substrate from going toxic in the first place, which was the whole reason that I had convinced myself that I needed MTS in the first place.
As an aside, Assassin Snails kick MAJOR butt on MTS! They're the only thing I've found to get rid of them (besides the "scorched earth" method I was eventually forced to resort to - namely: removing, boiling and then freezing the sand from my tank - extreme measure, but took care of the little pests!). But be warned, if you've tried introducing loaches to your tank to manage your MTS problem, and you've convinced yourself that the loaches are doing NOTHING to help the problem, you will realize that your loaches ARE, in fact, snail eaters, shortly after you introduce assassin snails to the environment.
What a fun and educational hobby!!!!
