Sand Substrate And Gas Buildup
- Thread starter M4R13Y
- Start date
The December FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
the build up can happen if there is a large air bubble trapped in the sand. If left there it can turn poisonous, but I think this is pretty rare. I have sand, and I have a hill in my tank, so a good 7 inches of sand at least. I use a wooden skewer to poke holes in my sand before my weekly water change, that's all. Its not really a big deal is you make it part of your maintenance 
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
Any type of agitation would work, or if you're setting up a tank, add 1/2 tank of water first, then the sand like mikey1 said.
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
I used play sand and my fish love it, but it is a lot of work to wash it. You have to wash and wash and wash some more. But i think it was worth it. Ive never used pool sand before so I don't know much about it.
The gas build-up isn't air, it's hydrogen sulfide gas created by anaerobic bacteria in compacted sand. The theory is that if your sand is too deep (more than about 1.5 inches) it excludes oxygen which allows anaerobic bacteria to feed off organic matter trapped in the sand. The resulting gas can poison the tank if it is dislodged in large quantities.
To avoid it, don't make your sand too deep and give it a stir during your weekly maintenance to avoid large pockets accumulating. MTS snails and plant roots will both help, so burrowing fish may as well. Watch out for heavy ornaments like rocks that don't get moved much, the sand will compact more underneath and can be a prime spot for anaerobics.
That's my understanding anyway, from when I did my research when I got my sand
To avoid it, don't make your sand too deep and give it a stir during your weekly maintenance to avoid large pockets accumulating. MTS snails and plant roots will both help, so burrowing fish may as well. Watch out for heavy ornaments like rocks that don't get moved much, the sand will compact more underneath and can be a prime spot for anaerobics.
That's my understanding anyway, from when I did my research when I got my sand
+1 This is correct. Has nothing to do with air what so ever.daizeUK said:The gas build-up isn't air, it's hydrogen sulfide gas created by anaerobic bacteria in compacted sand. The theory is that if your sand is too deep (more than about 1.5 inches) it excludes oxygen which allows anaerobic bacteria to feed off organic matter trapped in the sand. The resulting gas can poison the tank if it is dislodged in large quantities.
To avoid it, don't make your sand too deep and give it a stir during your weekly maintenance to avoid large pockets accumulating. MTS snails and plant roots will both help, so burrowing fish may as well. Watch out for heavy ornaments like rocks that don't get moved much, the sand will compact more underneath and can be a prime spot for anaerobics.
That's my understanding anyway, from when I did my research when I got my sand
Putting your sand in after your water will ahieve nothing.
However this is something you shouldnt really concern yourself with even if you do have deep sand.
Afterall, how many people have you ever heard of losing fish due to poisonous gas bulid up.
This is extreme and extremely rare. Your mkre likely to lose your fish to desease than this.
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
SLIM said:
This makes me feel much better. I was getting more and more nervous as this thread went on haha...
If you get a better sand, slightly larger grains, it doesn't compact easily. The one I bought is 2.50 euro for a 5kg bag and honestly it's worth the extra tenner investment instead of hard to wash play sand which compacts a lot easier and is light enough to fly into the filters too. I don't stir up the sand in my tank and I've never seen bubbles coming out even below decorations like stones that weren't moved for a good while and I've had it for over a year.
I've got a betta tank setup for over 5 months in which I didn't touch the sand as well besides siphoning over it, until last weekend when I decided to stir it and no bubbles came out. Maybe it takes longer, like years...Any incorrectly setup tank, or neglected tank will develop a lot of anaerobic bacteria in the substrate. Hence why we need to siphon gravel tanks so often because the debris will clogg it in the first place blocking any oxygen entering and creating a heaven for anaerobic bacteria. And then anaerobic bacteria will thrive on the organics(food and poop) fallen in between the grains and slowly multipliy to the point where it will spread to the water column. I guess most have seen a "white bacteria bloom" which is in most cases this type of anaerobic bacteria. Once in the water column, it completely changes its metabolism and instead of converting poop and food to ammonia and CO2 in anaerobic conditions, it converts ammonia to nitrIte using oxygen. This type of bacteria literally multiplies 10 times faster than our filter bacteria, but it's efficiency of converting ammonia is litterally million times worse than the good filter bacteria. So it ends up taking over all available well oxygenated surfaces, including the filter, doing little job and suffocating the filter bacteria, causing ammonia/nitrIte spikes in turn.
For example, in a tank with insufficient flow, or wrongly setup flow and little siphoning, there maybe dead spots where a lot of debris gathers, like under decorations, stones, etc..So one moves the decor and a bubble comes out. It's because there's lots of debris there and little oxygen reaching, and eventually that anaerobic bacteria creates gas pockets.
However, in a planted tank this bacteria is very much under control and is very beneficial to the plants. It provides nutritients and CO2 to the plants via the roots. And plant roots on another hand keep the substrate uncompacted and oxygenated so this in turn prevents the same anaerobic bacteria from multiying beyond levels at which it can become harmful in a tank. It's all about the balance
Planted tank is easier to maintain for that same reason, almost no siphoning and no stirring needed as long as you have rooted plants. That's why substrate for plants should be small enough to let the roots grow and spread properly but big enough to still let oxygen go through. So generally very fine sand is too small to keep healthy, and in fact most types of sand. And generally gravel is too big, the surface layers easilty clog, providing nice enviroment for anaerobic and other harmful bacteria and on another hand blocking the plant roots from oxygenating it as they can't easilty displace bigger grains in order to uncompact it.
I think I should be banned...Just skip the above as sometimes I can't shut up
I've got a betta tank setup for over 5 months in which I didn't touch the sand as well besides siphoning over it, until last weekend when I decided to stir it and no bubbles came out. Maybe it takes longer, like years...Any incorrectly setup tank, or neglected tank will develop a lot of anaerobic bacteria in the substrate. Hence why we need to siphon gravel tanks so often because the debris will clogg it in the first place blocking any oxygen entering and creating a heaven for anaerobic bacteria. And then anaerobic bacteria will thrive on the organics(food and poop) fallen in between the grains and slowly multipliy to the point where it will spread to the water column. I guess most have seen a "white bacteria bloom" which is in most cases this type of anaerobic bacteria. Once in the water column, it completely changes its metabolism and instead of converting poop and food to ammonia and CO2 in anaerobic conditions, it converts ammonia to nitrIte using oxygen. This type of bacteria literally multiplies 10 times faster than our filter bacteria, but it's efficiency of converting ammonia is litterally million times worse than the good filter bacteria. So it ends up taking over all available well oxygenated surfaces, including the filter, doing little job and suffocating the filter bacteria, causing ammonia/nitrIte spikes in turn.
For example, in a tank with insufficient flow, or wrongly setup flow and little siphoning, there maybe dead spots where a lot of debris gathers, like under decorations, stones, etc..So one moves the decor and a bubble comes out. It's because there's lots of debris there and little oxygen reaching, and eventually that anaerobic bacteria creates gas pockets.
However, in a planted tank this bacteria is very much under control and is very beneficial to the plants. It provides nutritients and CO2 to the plants via the roots. And plant roots on another hand keep the substrate uncompacted and oxygenated so this in turn prevents the same anaerobic bacteria from multiying beyond levels at which it can become harmful in a tank. It's all about the balance
Planted tank is easier to maintain for that same reason, almost no siphoning and no stirring needed as long as you have rooted plants. That's why substrate for plants should be small enough to let the roots grow and spread properly but big enough to still let oxygen go through. So generally very fine sand is too small to keep healthy, and in fact most types of sand. And generally gravel is too big, the surface layers easilty clog, providing nice enviroment for anaerobic and other harmful bacteria and on another hand blocking the plant roots from oxygenating it as they can't easilty displace bigger grains in order to uncompact it.
I think I should be banned...Just skip the above as sometimes I can't shut up
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
388 -
205 -
201 -
192 -
187 -
181 -
162 -
151
-
144 -
112 -
99 -
97 -
85 -
82 -
78