Air pockets in Gravel!?!?

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fish_4_all

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
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The last 2 times I did a gravel vac I noticed something odd. Peas sized air bubbles are coming up when i disturb the gravel. The gravel isn't that dirty, actually less than it was before I started to feed less. What could be causing this? I do run an airstone at night and it is running pretty strong, could this cause it? Is there decay I am not aware of causing this? Could it be access CO2?
 
Could be a number of things.
How deep is the gravl bed and how long has it been there?
Could be just air if its rather new.
It could be nitrogen in the right conditions.
 
Large gravel, 9+ months old.
Smaller gravel added 5+months ago
2 inches deep.
Nitrogen, as in NH4 8O .
 
Yes, likely pocket of HS (hydrogen sulphide) gas caused by rotting biological matter trapped in anaerobic pockets. Now would be an exellent time for some Malayan trumpet snails.
 
So this buildup is coming from the SO4 in both MgSO4 and K2SO4 right, and decaying matter but I syphon the area that it coming from every week so I don't know why it would be coming from decaying matter as much. The only thing I can think of that I have done differently is to dose them dry instead of mixing them like I used to. Could that be the cause of the gas?
 
If it is Hydrogen Sulfide- You need to have an oxygen deprived area to produce this. You mention vacuuming every week, which helps- Do you have anything improving waterflow in your substrate? UGF or a substrate heater or MTS? Does the tank smell like rotten eggs when you release the bubbles?

Even if you half nothing improving flow in your substrate, you vacuum once a week, that should help with allowing the oxygen into that area.
 
It does not smell at all when it bubbles up.

I run an airstone very fast every night. Vacuum every week and always have deep into the gravel. I just hate snails, lol. I guess I will have to think about MTS but if I am going to get them I might as well start to switch over to Pool filter sand or at least a finer substrate for the sake of the plants and to help hold whatever plant tabs I eventually get. Will help me grow HC also. Either that or add about 2 lbs. of a finer gravel for them to move around in, or some kind of sand.

With MTS in mind, what is the smallest and largest substrate that MTS can handle and move around in easily? Will they be able to dig into my gravel, it is a mix of standard colored LFS aquarium gravel and I would say 1/2 that size river bed gravel.

The biggest question; Is this gas harmful to the fish?
 
Well then I need to get some MTS because it has developed an odor so it has to be Hydrogen Sulfide I guess. Why I am getting it, I don't know. I don't overfeed, there isn't a whole lot of waste when I vacuum. Just an annoyance I guess. I am going to stop dosing K2SO4 and MgSO4 just in case it is something to do with the extra SO4 in the water breaking down waste and creating the gas.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of it or decrease the amount, about 25 bubbles from the middle of the tank, until I can get some MTS? Should I vacuum more often and move my plants around to break up the decay and get rid of the gas? I think this might be what is causing my big BN to act a little weird and not his happy normal self.
 
I think I might know what happened and it is just one of those stupid can I get it local tricks that backfired. I used the Jobes plant sticks and placed one under the Red Melon Sword, no problem right. Well there probably wouldn't have been but I took the Red Melon sword out of the tank and off of the the spike. This left it all by itself to decay and release the nutrients into the gravel instead of the sword using it up. We will see because I took the crypts out of the planter wher EI had another pievce of the Jobes and no gas came ot and the spike was used up. My other tank has little pieces in it and no gas buildup so I think it could have just been simple memory lapse. We will see if it goes away or if I have something else going on. Either way it sounds like a heavy planted tank is going to need MTS just to keep the mulm and gunk eaten and processed so I will be looking for them.
 
Another possibility, bubbles from the gravel could be O2 as well, if you have a planted tank and a lot of pearling. That means the water is saturated with O2. Anytime I work in my 75G, and do anything with the gravel, I get tons of bubbles. And this has always been from when I first started the tank. I think I just get a lot of O2 buildup in the Eco from the water being so saturated. Also, no affects on any of the fish as well, and I do have a bunch of MTS in the tank as well. But even before the MTS, same thing happened. If the tank is unplanted, and no O2 saturation, then I could see problems.
 
That's what I thought to start with because the gas had no smell to it. Today it did but the 2 times I have noticed before it did not. Oh well, If it is then the snails are a bonus, if not the snails will take care of it eventually. Bud does seem to act funny at times, like he is dazed or something so it could be the H2S. He came aournd when I did a hgue water change a couple weeks ago but has gotten lazy again in the last couple days.

Got some to spare, lol. Will post a need in barter trade.
 
It could be traped air from when you syphon..
as I said it could be a number of things..

HS is much more probible if you had say a big rock that you never syphoned under.. if you syphon all of the substarte weekly IMHO its not likely the problem.
 
Well I get it all the time now but it doesn't have any odor any more. I think I got a wiff of my other emersed attempt with HC when I smelled the funny smell. Both tanks have it now but I think it due to my airstones running 24/7 now.

Thanks for all the help. :)
 
If your running low light no CO2 injection your likely going to have more CO2 for the plants that way.

If your injecting CO2.. I would get snails ASAP
 
Medium to medium high light with CO2 injection, DIY, 40-60ppm most of the time.
Tank #1 has 30+ watt NO and Tank #2 has 40 watts of U shapes screw in flourescents.

I have snails on the way, if my Post Office will ever deliver them. 7 days now from East Coast to West Coast standard mail, I just hope they survive the trip. Took 5 days to deliver Priority 2-3 day mail in the same state! Will be true test of the durability of MTS that's for sure.

Update: Snails got here, they are indestructible! 10 days in this heat and I think 2 might have actually died out of 80+. Now I hope they can manage my gravel and start to turn it over so the gas won't build up any more. How long should it take the 40 per tank to become an army?
 
lol.. not long if there's enough food to feed them all :lol:

I would discontiue use of air in the CO2 injected tank, but your ppm's are pretty high, keep an eye out for strange behavior out of the fish.

the more air the better in non-injected planted tanks :p
 
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