audiophile42
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2006
- Messages
- 10
Hello,
For starters, I have a 50gal tank with Africans and Clown loaches. It has been up and running for a little over 5 months, no problems. I've used pool filter sand as a substrate, and a few purchased rocks, but mostly rocks that I had found and cleaned to use for structure and caves. I do a pwc almost every week (sometimes a week and a half), and I always go through the sand in most areas to stir it up. A few days ago i was doing a water change, and stirred up some sand in an area i hadn't in a few weeks, because it was underneath a rock that was supporting a bunch of other rocks. The sand that was coming out started to look grey, then the further I got, it was almost black. This freaked me out, so I took out some other rocks, and moved the sand out from them, and it was black too. I ended up taking out all my rocks to inspect the sand, and underneath a few of the rocks, there was this black sand. I scooped it all up, tossed it, finished cleaning and doing the water change, and put it back together. I just got home from traveling over the weekend, and I saw a small patch of grey sand in an area. I turned the sand over, and there was some more of that black sand again. This was after I had turned over the entire sand bed and removed everything black. I do not know what it is going on. This problem has just sprung up recently, it has been a stable tank with no deaths, I've got an XP3 hooked up to it, and i do frequent large water changes. Can ANYONE help me to figure this out? A few of my cichlids seem to like the sand, but if i can't get this resolved, i'm thinking of switching over to a gravel substrate. Thanks in advance for any advice, and if you need any more info, just ask.
For starters, I have a 50gal tank with Africans and Clown loaches. It has been up and running for a little over 5 months, no problems. I've used pool filter sand as a substrate, and a few purchased rocks, but mostly rocks that I had found and cleaned to use for structure and caves. I do a pwc almost every week (sometimes a week and a half), and I always go through the sand in most areas to stir it up. A few days ago i was doing a water change, and stirred up some sand in an area i hadn't in a few weeks, because it was underneath a rock that was supporting a bunch of other rocks. The sand that was coming out started to look grey, then the further I got, it was almost black. This freaked me out, so I took out some other rocks, and moved the sand out from them, and it was black too. I ended up taking out all my rocks to inspect the sand, and underneath a few of the rocks, there was this black sand. I scooped it all up, tossed it, finished cleaning and doing the water change, and put it back together. I just got home from traveling over the weekend, and I saw a small patch of grey sand in an area. I turned the sand over, and there was some more of that black sand again. This was after I had turned over the entire sand bed and removed everything black. I do not know what it is going on. This problem has just sprung up recently, it has been a stable tank with no deaths, I've got an XP3 hooked up to it, and i do frequent large water changes. Can ANYONE help me to figure this out? A few of my cichlids seem to like the sand, but if i can't get this resolved, i'm thinking of switching over to a gravel substrate. Thanks in advance for any advice, and if you need any more info, just ask.
