Question: sand problem

Hi
The problem that I have is, the sand in my tank has started to turn black, I removed most of the black sand, and replaced it with fresh but the next day the sand had started to go black again.

No matter how many times I remove it the next day the sand on the top is fine, but underneath it starts to go black again, I Do regular water changers and my water quality’s are fine, but it doesn’t smell very nice and it doesn’t look very clean either .
Is there any other way of combating this ?

Hello Big J,

One should occasionally stir sand to release accumulated debris, and then use a siphon to vaccum the "dust". It sounds to me like the dust is rising into your water and then settling back down into te sand. Do you vacuum the sand regularly? Do you have a filter running?

I would caution that continually changing the sand can destroy your bacterial colony (=biological filter), thereby affecting your water quality.

-Eva

Hi,

Black sand and a foul odor are sure signs that pockets of anaerobic bacteria have developed, which will wreck havoc with your water quality and may weaken your salamander's immune system, among other things. You may need to start over, but one thing you can try first is to reduce the depth of your sand to less than 1 inch - this will lessen the likelihood of anaerobic bacteria taking hold, as more of the substrate will be exposed to oxygenated water (I assume you have a filter going) and will increase the effectiveness of your sand-washing (using wide-ended siphon tube-type gravel cleaner).

If you are growing live plants and want deep sand, you should consider an undergravel filter - not much in vogue these days, but this will circulate water through the sand bed and encourage aerobic (useful) bacteria. Plant roots may eventually clog the filter plate, but overall the system is workable. You'll still need to siphon debris from the sand on a regular basis.

Removing/adding new sand will not help, the bactera are amazingly good at colonizing new substrates (you may, in fact, be helping them along!)

If you'd like to read more, I have a number of amphibian/reptile husbandry and natural history articles posted at:
http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog

Good luck, Frank Indiviglio