Sand Probs

[andrew]

Hi.. I have at the moment a 2ft tank with between 5 and 10 cm of black sand on the bottom, this i purchased from bunnings at quite a price. But I have noticed that there are small pockets of air in the sand that pop and send sand to float on the surface or when the axolotl moves a lot the sand floats to the surface. And thus, I am getting build ups of thin sand layers on the surface of the water. Does anyone have any ideas for keeping it from floating???

 

[burt]

Well i just put a small amount of medium sized river rockes on the surface which stopped the sand from going to the surface but as for the air pockets just pop them with a skewer.....

(Message approved by jennewt)

 

[alex]

i would lower the amount of sand you have to about 2 cm. definintly no more then 5 cms. stir the sand around every now and then to stop the air pockets.

 

[clinton]

I've had similar problems with my sand. I agree with keeping a level lower than 5cm with occasional agitation. Took me 6 months to figure it out though lol

 

[emily]

I use a fork to rake the sand, works well. Plants also work to hold the sand in place an help minimise air pockets

 

[stewart]

Take out the axie and stir up the sand after the sant has reched the to take it out with a net

 

[sharn]

i beleive that air is quite harmful, does it smell like sulphur sort of? i am unsure what the gas is but its not a good thing at all. the pockets you are seeing are caused by anerobic bacteria so you need to keep the sand airated a bit more, i think anerobic bacteria turns nitrates back into the harmful nitrites (not 100% sure on that though).

 

[joan]

Methane. The pockets are caused from anaerobic respiration in the sand. It's not good. Definately lower your sand level.

 

[sharn]

in my axolotl tank that doesnt have any real plants i only have 1cm, if that. in my planted tank i have 2cm or so but even then i still have problems with anerobic bacteria so it doesnt take much for it to go icky. 10cm is a fair whack of substrate, definatly lower is and see how you go then

 

[edward]

The smell is not due to methane but to hydrogen sulphide. Methane can make up the majority of the bubble(s) but this isn't a concern in the tank while hydrogen sulfphide (H2S) is a concern. Hydrogen sulphide can be very toxic to aquatic organisms. You need to reduce the depth of sand as soon as possible. If possible make sure you add aeration and carbon filtration to the tank when you reduce the sand depth as you want to pull the disturbed H2S out of the tank as soon as possible.

Ed

 

[peter]

i got so sick and tired of raking the sand that i had in my tank, plus the fact that it started to turn dark in places that i just syphoned the whole lot out and now i use quartz white river pebbles and large black pebbles(the ones you see at the sea side)

 

[joan]

Gravel and small pebbles can cause impaction.

 

[peter]

the pebbles I use are 2inch-3inch no smaller, I would never use small gravel if I was feeding my axie pellets.