Anaerobic conditions

[Ricky 1]

Is it normal to have anaerobic conditions in the substrate. I am worrying about the dark sand, nothing smells "off" in the tank, I am doing a late wc tomorrow morning as I normally do it on Friday, it's not wise to do a deep syphon with the python is it.........

 

[Coyne]

Anaerobic bacteria need a deeper substrate than what most people have in their aquariums to get to a level that they are a potential problem. I think more than 6" is needed before you're likely to see anaerobic activity. If you're still worried, however, you can use something to poke and prod at the sand. This should release any build up in gases before they are a serious threat. You can look up and research "Deep Sand Beds" if you're interested in learning more.
I wouldn't recommend sticking your siphon in there though. You'll end up sucking up the sand itself.

 

[jlk]

I would make it a part of your weekly cleaning routine to run a pair of chopsticks or something similar through your sand. This will prevent gas pockets from forming.

I need to do this weekly on one tank that is no longer planted even though it's barely an inch deep in sand. Sulfur pockets/black sand still develop despite the minimal amount of sand. Plants and mts keep things under control in my other tanks that have a decent sand substrate.


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[Mebbid]

The pockets of gas are 100% harmless. They rise out of the tank far too quickly to diffuse into the water.

 

[Fishfur]

I"d have to disagree with that, Coyne and Mebbid. I've had, to my sorrow, a 'swamp gas' condition develop in my tank, and it killed a number of shrimp, some snails and some cories. It was something I'd never experienced before, so I didn't recognize the problem right away.

The water did not smell, but bubbles of gas were coming up from the substrate periodically and those that died were caught in the bubbles.

When I went to clean it, a huge cloud of bubbles came up, and the tank reeked of rotten eggs, sulphur dioxide. Eco complete, about 2.75 inches deep. Turned out I was overfeeding, and too much of it was sinking into the substrate. It's one reason I keep MTS now, they do help, but they only dig about an inch down, not any more than that, so they don't get to the bottom of thicker substrates.

It took a very thorough vacuuming and rinsing of the substrate to get rid of the odour and then cleaning the filter after it had filtered out the really fine particles of floating crud to get clean water again.

 

[Mebbid]

I"d have to disagree with that, Coyne and Mebbid. I've had, to my sorrow, a 'swamp gas' condition develop in my tank, and it killed a number of shrimp, some snails and some cories.

The water did not smell, but bubbles of gas were coming up from the substrate periodically and those that died were caught in the bubbles.

When I went to clean it, a huge cloud of bubbles came up, and the tank reeked of rotten eggs, sulphur dioxide. Eco complete, about 2.75 inches deep. Turned out I was overfeeding, and too much of it was sinking into the substrate. It's one reason I keep MTS now, they do help, but they only dig about an inch down, not any more than that, so they don't get to th bottom of thicker substrates.

Running multiple dirted tanks I have those bubbles constantly in my tank. The rotten egg smelling bubbles pop up whenever I clean the tank or walk by a little too fast not to mention moving anything. Corys, angels, gbrs, rasboras, tetras, rainbows, bettas, rcs, ghost shrimp, nerites, and mystery snails. No issues with any of them.

Are you sure it was the bubbles or was it something else?

 

[Fishfur]

No question it was the bubbles.. I saw a shrimp get caught in one and it simply keeled over and was gone in minutes. I was standing right over the tank, and every bubble that came up and popped under my nose stank of rotten eggs

 

[Mebbid]

No question it was the bubbles.. I saw a shrimp get caught in one and it simply keeled over and was gone in minutes. I was standing right over the tank, and every bubble that came up and popped under my nose stank of rotten eggs

Are you sure it wasn't just stunned? This would make you the very first person I've ever heard if having any sort of issues with it.

 

[Fishfur]

The shrimp I saw get hit by a bubble did not get up again. It died. If it wasn't the bubble, can't imagine what else it was. Lost quite a few shrimp, [Snowballs], in this tank before I cleaned up the substrate, and the water parameters themselves were fine.. 0, 0 and 20.

 

[dragon14]

I would make it a part of your weekly cleaning routine to run a pair of chopsticks or something similar through your sand. This will prevent gas pockets from forming.

I need to do this weekly on one tank that is no longer planted even though it's barely an inch deep in sand. Sulfur pockets/black sand still develop despite the minimal amount of sand. Plants and mts keep things under control in my other tanks that have a decent sand substrate.


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Good idea! We've never done this and I worry about a gas pocket sometimes... would it be ok to start doing it?

We've had sand for about two months now.

 

[jlk]

Good idea! We've never done this and I worry about a gas pocket sometimes... would it be ok to start doing it?

We've had sand for about two months now.

Better to start sooner rather than later! Just keep in mind that this does not always occur in every tank but taking a minute to run something through the sand on a regular basis is a pretty simple preventative.

 

[jetajockey]

I had it happen in a dirt tank once. Got a little crazy with the water hose and stirred up the dirt under the cap, fish started dying soon after. Could've been anaerobic gases, or it could have just as easily been an overload of nutrients that were dumped into the water column.

I've never seen it happen otherwise, even with a substrate that bubbles periodically.

 

[dragon14]

Better to start sooner rather than later! Just keep in mind that this does not always occur in every tank but taking a minute to run something through the sand on a regular basis is a pretty simple preventative.

Thanks

 

[Fresh2o]

Fishfur - That was interesting that you observed this using EcoComplete. Just curious, was the plant heavily planted? Or...were there plants with extensive root systems such as crypts or swords? For some reason, I feel that the presence of active, growing roots will reduce anaerobic conditions.


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[Ricky 1]

Just finished my WC, did the chop stick run in the sand all is well thanks, I enjoy WC day, this python is fantastic, I always clean all up before taking water out and now fish are happy..........