Sand/Dead Spots

[jlbfish]

Ok so I was warned off sand by the guy at the fish shop because of dead spots/anaerobic bacteria/nitrate sink etc.

He said you have to dig it all up every time you change the tank water or else you can get these spots. I have sand in my 28 gallon and my 75 (no fish in this one yet).

I have also read that these dead spots are not a big deal. So is sand a good thing or not? Confused.

of course this shop also had a tank full FULL of ich and they knew it. But there was no heater i the tank so I suppose those fish will just die. :/ The other recommended fish shop in town told me there is no way to cycle a tank w/out fish (when I asked if they sold seeded media). Sigh. No clue who to trust to learn!

Thanks
Jana

 

[Sake]

Alot of people think those gas pockets are rarer than people are led to believe. You wouldn't have to dig it up, you can use a chopstick or dow rod and stir it a bit, or if you don't mind snails, you could get a few malaysian trumpet snails, they dig down into the sand and would mix it for you.

 

[smomus]

From what I understand if you get some Malaysian trumpet snails they help with sand. There were some other but I don't know what it is. I'm sure someone will chime in soon. As far as the snails go, some lfs will just give them to you. My Petsmart said they would yesterday when I bought some other snails.

 

[Silverton]

Ok so I was warned off sand by the guy at the fish shop because of dead spots/anaerobic bacteria/nitrate sink etc.

He said you have to dig it all up every time you change the tank water or else you can get these spots. I have sand in my 28 gallon and my 75 (no fish in this one yet).

I have also read that these dead spots are not a big deal. So is sand a good thing or not? Confused.

of course this shop also had a tank full FULL of ich and they knew it. But there was no heater i the tank so I suppose those fish will just die. :/ The other recommended fish shop in town told me there is no way to cycle a tank w/out fish (when I asked if they sold seeded media). Sigh. No clue who to trust to learn!

Thanks
Jana

When I asked about cycling my tank at petsmart the guy handed me a bottle of prime. "You don't want to mess around with it too much, that's when you start getting into problems," were his exact words I believe. But now I'm two weeks in to fish less cycling and it seems to be working just fine. I don't think I would have been able to do fish-in cycling anyway since my tap water is 1 ppm ammonia anyway. Moral of the story: a lot of these petstore workers don't seem to know what they're talking about.

 

[jlbfish]

Thanks for the information. I'm not big on the MTS either. I don't want to have to smash the ones I don't want. But I will read on them a bit more.

LOL that petsmart guy seems common! There were 2 aquarium stores that were recommended to me because they were specifically fish stores and had a good rep. They gave me bogus information so I am thinking I might just get my fish from petsmart and my specialty items from the fish store.