Sand That Compacts

[fry_lover]

I have never really paid attention to this issue and have often had tanks with about 2" of sand in that never gets stirred or moved.

I am re-organising all three of my tanks this weekend,

In 2 of my 300 litre tanks, i have cichlids and no plants, i was thinking of dropping the sand to about 1" or 1.25", none of the fish really sift through the sand much, only a little, like the Kribs and even then they obviously dont get very deep.

My other 300 litre tank is going is heavily planted or will be (transferring everything from a 170 litre to 300 litre)

If i have 2-2.5" inch of sand any recommendations as to how to avoid these "bacteria" pockets that can build up, or so i am led to believe? I read somewhere the bacteria that builds up in the sand can be "deadly" not sure how?

I cant really be stirring the sand up in my planted tank, its not practical.

I dont really want to change the subsrate either, as i have loads of corydoras who love the sand.

Perhaps fine gravel for about 1.5", then sand for 1" ?

And what happens if you dont stir the sand and certain "bacteria" build up?

If my sand has already compacted and i stir it all up, should i add a one-off dose of something like Myxazin?
Cheers

 

[Maximus]

Basically, the compacted sand creates anerobic bacteria to build up, and is released when the sand is moved.
People have always said that it is "deadly", but I beg to differ. I've had it in my tanks, and all the bubbles do is
float to the surface

But you can notice when this build-up is happening, because the sand gets "black patches", where it is happening.

Even though nothing came of these "deadly pockets", I removed alot of the sand in the tank to bring it down to 1".

In one tank I have mbuna cichlids, so it is moved more then enough!
But in my other tank I have trumpit snails. These guys bury in the substrate in the day, moving around (preventing dead spots) and
surface at night to eat algae, missed/rotting food ect. The best part is that they don't eat plants! Only dead/rotting leaves

Alot of people use these guys in their planted tanks for the reasons above

You can buy trumpit snails from ebay, or ask around in the buy/sell/swap section of the forum, theres plenty of people willing to
send you some for a small fee (cheaper then ebay )


Hope that helped,

Maximus

Edited for poor spelling

 

[fry_lover]

thank you, i was just looking at trumpet snails on the internet, are these the same as Nerite snails?

 

[Maximus]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails

 

[loachman]

thank you, i was just looking at trumpet snails on the internet, are these the same as Nerite snails?

no