How Often Do I Need To Disturb My Sand Substrate?

[serbusfish]

I've been told that every now and again if you use sand for your substrate you are supposed to disturb it as gas can become trapped, but I was wondering how often this needs doing?

 

[lynxtigger]

so if ur asking how ofen u need to clean ur sand(aka,rocks) then, if u see lots of dirt / fishfood trapped in the sand then u need to clean ur rocks.

 

[serbusfish]

so if ur asking how ofen u need to clean ur sand(aka,rocks) then, if u see lots of dirt / fishfood trapped in the sand then u need to clean ur rocks.

No no, i clean the sand surface of dirt once a week, with sand all the crud settles on top unlike gravel where it gets in it/under it. But ive been told you have to actually move the sand around once in a while to stop the buildup of toxic gasses.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Try to give it a bit of a stir every water change, works fine for me.

 

[SombreroBanana]

If you put in some malaysian trumpet snails, they stir up the sand all the time so no gas builds up.

 

[freshwaterfishlover]

I Pock the sand with a fork in spots every week when I do a water change. I see gas bubbles come up.

 

[snazy]

It depends on the type of sand, mine is not so fine and it doesn't compact easily.

 

[phoenixgsd]

i have malaysian trumpet snails in my sand, works a treat

 

[basboi85]

I have snails in my tank and they go everywhere but every water change I literally hand shovel all the sand and mix it in my tank and never had any trapped gases but I still do it just to make sure.

I'm going to be doing it again today as I've got some wood to put in my tank so I've got to pull everything out to re decorate.

I would say personal preference really you can leave it say 3 weeks and there won't be any gases but say leave it 4 weeks and there could be gases but then there might not be entirely down to you and how you want/do things

 

[JohnCS]

Try to give it a bit of a stir every water change, works fine for me.

Was about to post a very similar reply, +1 to the above

 

[bikerfish]

Hi it is def a personal thing , I run my hands through the sand and move things about weekly just in case as my sand gets conmpact down in places esp under rocks and I find that some of the fish poo gets caught underneath the sand as I have 3 cichilds and a plec even thoe I have cories in tank which shuffle through the sand

cathy