Natural Sand Color Change

[majid83@gmail.com]

The sand colour in my tank has changed in some areas to dark brown. This is in some areas of the tank only. Any ideas what's causing this? One of my rock is also getting brown stains on top. I did a 50% water change in my tank last week, but I don't think it has anything to do with the additional brown colour on the sand.

Please Help!

 

[BigIan]

have you been stiring the sand to oxygenate the lower layers?

Don`t know if your aware but a process called "anairobic decay" will break down anything within the sand below 10mm of the surface and will produce nasty gasses and chemicals within the sand,

you need to stir the sand often (i do it with every water change) in order to prevent these pockets forming.

it could also be diatom alge (although i`ve never herd of it forming on sand)

 

[simonbrown403]

have you been stiring the sand to oxygenate the lower layers?

Don`t know if your aware but a process called "anairobic decay" will break down anything within the sand below 10mm of the surface and will produce nasty gasses and chemicals within the sand,

you need to stir the sand often (i do it with every water change) in order to prevent these pockets forming.

it could also be diatom alge (although i`ve never herd of it forming on sand)

Diatoms will for on the glass under the sand at the front.

Aerobic bacteria form in oxygen rich areas where as anaerobic bacteria form in areas with little or no oxygen. Anaerobic bacteria can be beneficial as they turn nitrite into nitrate which your plants use as food.
The only problem is it gives off gasses such as methane, and nitrogen which can be hazardous to fish in large amounts, when not allowed to escapeinto the atmosphere.

 

[majid83@gmail.com]

I was mixing the sand when doing water changes two weeks ago when I noticed the brown colour forming, but then next week the brown stain formed again on my rocks and on my top layer sand. But I will stir it now on my next water change.



Is it ok to use a wooden spoon to stir up the sand?

 

[Luke_e]

Yea its fine to use a wooden spoon, just give it a quick rinse before hand incase there is any residue from cleaning it.