Bubbles coming from Sand...Any Ideas...Any Help...

[Snype2live]

Well about 2 weeks ago, I started cycling my new 10 gallon tank my friend threw out. Its just a standard 10 Gallon, with standard incondescent hood(with 2 13 ge cfls 6500k bulbs in it). The filter is a Aquaclear 50 flow is maxed out on it. Heater is Tetra 10-30 100 watt heater. Well 2 weeks ago I dosed with 4ppm of ammonia. 2 weeks later my ammonia is about .5ppm and nitrites is around 8ppm and nitrates around 10ppm and rising. Well my substrate is pool filter sand, same that I have used several times before in 2 Oscar tanks and 1 ciclid tank. Well I noticed some of my sand turning brown and brown stuff growing on glass today. well I had my wife clean it and sift through the sand. She said a bunch of bubbles came up. well I had her smell them and no sulfer ( rotten egg smell). Is this normal when doing fishless cycle? Is this ok ? Theres no rotten smell so could it have just been trapped air? Doesn't no smell mean no anarobic (or whatever bad bacteria that doesnt need oxygen is called). For stocking I'm thinking of doing like 50 Ghost or Grass shrimp, and a school of about 5 Micro fish (open for suggestions), and some live plants with Flourish excel and comprehensive as fertilizers. Also the pet store told me that I shouldnt put live plants in with Ammonia levels so high right now is this true?

[ejaramillo01]

Could be diatoms, which are normal in the sand in a new tank. Normally diatoms will go away wiht time.

[Mumma.of.two]

Sounds like diatoms. They feed on silicates in the PFS. Perfectly normal and not harmful though quite ugly. They will use up their food source and burn out eventually. Plants actually feed on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and will thrive in a cycling tank providing all their needs are met.

Oh, and IME PFS holds a lot of bubbles from when a tank is first set up.

[Snype2live]

so i shouldnt worry about the bubbles?

[Snype2live]

oh also this is a fresh water tank idk if i made that clear or not i was half asleep posting

[Mumma.of.two]

I gathered it was FW. Unless they smell there's no problem. Even then, there are no fish & inverts in the tank so it wouldn't be a problem.

IME/O people over react about anaerobic pockets. Once the bubbles exit the substrate they head for the surface fast, then they pop and the gas disperses. I've seen them hit fish on the way up and not cause any issues.

[Wolfsblood]

Are you leaving the light on a lot? You don't really need to have the light on during a fishless. Also did you mean 5 or 50 ghost shrimp? 50 would be very overstocked.

For plants you can add them anytime during the cycle.

[Rivercats]

Mumma is right on about people over worrying about air pockets. Its not that uncommon and as long as you substrate is really deep (over 3" IMO) then don't worry.
As for plants adding them can actually aid and quicken the cycle process. Get some water spite, wisteria, or any fast growing stem plant like anarcharis or ambulia will actually like all the ammonia. So if your wanting to add plants now is actually the perfect time to do it.

[Snype2live]

yea idk how man shrimp im doing its the .33$ ones from petsmart i like them and its the only ones available to me so how many could i do in a ten gallon tank. and what would be a good schoal of small fish for them

[Snype2live]

and as far as light yet its been left on atleast 12 hours a day i get up i turn it on i go to to sleep i turn it off...really trying to test the evaporation of this tank

[Wolfsblood]

I would cut back on the light usage. The longer you leave it on the more algae you will grow.
About 5 shrimp and a school of 5-8 small tetras that you like would be good.

[Rivercats]

Definitely cut lights down to at least 8 hour max for algae will become an issue rather quickly.

Those would be ghost shrimp so I'd probably only start with 3 unless you heavily plant your tank. Endler's, Harliquen rasboras, Spotted blue eyes, Scarlet badis, sparkling gourami, and a few other nano fish would be perfect for a 10g. Depending on the species you get will determine how many you could keep. You would be able to keep at least 6 of any of these species except the sparkling gourami.

[CorallineAlgae]

That's way to much light. If you get a lamp timer you can set it to turn on for a few hours in the morning, then off during part of the day and on again in the evening. That'll let you have the lights on the sans amount every day for about 8 hours and reduce the chance of algae taking hold. It's called a split daylight cycle and it works out great. My daughter's tank has this light cycle and it works out very well. She can see her fish off in the morning and enjoy the fish and shrimp when she gets back from school. A timer really makes it so simple.

[Snype2live]

why only 3 shrimp i thought with a shrimp tank you could have like a max of like 10 per gallon i really want this to be a shrimp tank i may not even get any fish cause its hard to find and nano fish around here not many lfs really only petsmart unless i drive like 40 miles
and ill cut down on the lighting to 8 hours maybe 4 in morning and 4 in evening

[Mumma.of.two]

I have to disagree with every one. I think you could easily stock 20 possibly even 30 ghost shrimp alone in a planted 10g. If the food source is the worry it needn't be. Ghost shrimp will eat anything and everything.

[Rivercats]

I've tried keeping high numbers of ghost shrimp in smaller tanks and honestly found aggression between the shrimp, I kid you not. After a few tries I only went with keeping a smaller number in relation to tank size. I have about 50 or so in the 220g and that is the best my ghosties have ever done. The little ones are fine but when you get some with some serious size on them that is when I'd start seeing the big ones picking off the little ones. Don't know if anyone else ever has had this but I err on the side of caution with them.

[Cammywammy]

I agree with Rivercats, I had about 10 ghost shrimp in my 10 gallon with other fish and as they grew the biggest one (about an inch) literally hunted down every other shrimp in my tank then went after my fish!

[Snype2live]

hmm well i prolly only going to do shrimp at first unless i see that they are very unaggressive and well then i might (keyword might) put some rasboras or something in there so im thinking like 15-25 shrimp and let them sort it out

[Snype2live]

Ok so false alarm on the bubbles coming up out of sand my wife is a goober and didnt realized bubbles on here hand when she put it into the tank but another problem has arised i was looking around and noticed a snail in my tank. first of all is this a problem? second idk how it got there all i have put in it is pfs, and rock from fish store, i rinsed the rock in super hot water and scrubbed it and the rock was dry rock at fish store??? third how is it still alive the nitrite levels thro the roof ammonia thro the roof and nitrates are going to go thro the roof

[Rivercats]

Any plants in the tank? That is usually how snails hitchhike in.