• We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Pro's and Con's about sand in a freshwater setup...

midnight;1326782; said:
dont let him scare you.lol
did he test the bubbles to see if it was just air or something toxic?lol
did the fish poop then cover it with sand like a cat?lol
:grinno:
i have a 100g with lots of sand and bubbles never happen and no dead fish from it.
same with my other 4 sand tanks.
i do have fish that stur it up a bit tho,as most fish will.
i like sand,changed most of my tanks from gravel to sand.
pool filter sand.
doesnt clean the greatest with a gravel vac.
i have a 24" aro with sand and he hits the sand and sand goes everywhere but settles fast.
worst part is when you put it in.
clean the sand in a bucket real good.
stick a hose in the bucket of sand,stur it up with water,poor out water to get the cloudy water out,repeat about a thousand times.
:grinno:
santa might be bringing me sand for my 240
can ya picture 4 bags of sand under the tree?
:ROFL::grinno:
Click to expand...

Thank's midnight you crack me up!!!!
Does your aro eat any of the sand when picking up food from the bottom or just spit it out???????? My aro's were going to go to bare bottom but now questionable??????? How long have your sand tank's been set up???
Hope santa brings you all that sand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
 
i was worried about sand + aro also a while back "can dig up that thread if wanted"
nothing to worry about.
mine picks up shrimp from the bottom + sand and he just sifts the sand out of his mouth and eats the shrimp.
think about it,
whats on the bottom of,
a pond?
a lake?
a river?
a stream?

sand!!!!
:grinno:
no clue how long mine have been sand but its been a while.
 
I vac the top of the sand with my normal w/c but i dont stir it just for the sake of doing so my sand is between 4or5in and 1/8th in deep my fish move and stir the sand enough for my needs. The only fish that has EVER died in that tank is my very old dempsy and he lived much longer than i have ever heard of them living
 
The anaerobic bacteria live in areas devoid of oxygen, such as deep in the substrate of the aquarium or in areas where decorations cover the substrate. Some of the anaerobic bacteria are beneficial; some of them convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. This is why most denitrators have such slow flow rates and long coiled tubes- the idea is that bacteria will colonize the first part of the tube or denitrator and consume all of the oxygen, so everything from that point on will be anaerobic. In large quantities, anaerobic bacteria are bad because some types produce hydrogen sulfide as a metabolic byproduct. Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs; in marine aquaria, just stirring an anaerobic pocket can kill the fish. In freshwater it is largely less toxic, but is a symptom of poor husbandry techniques. These anaerobic areas also indicate lost bio filter real estate. Some of the other byproducts of anaerobic respiration are toxic if allowed to build up, but hydrogen sulfide is the most noticeable. The main way to fight anaerobic areas are to avoid placing rocks and decorations in a way that water cannot flow over the surface of the substrate. Decreasing substrate depth or increasing particle size will allow more oxygen to go deeper in the substrate. Fine sand has a tendancy to get packed and turn anaerobic; livestock ranging from Malaysian livebearing snails to horseface loaches to eartheater cichlids to (small) softshell turtles may be needed to prevent anaerobic pockets from forming.
 
guess my tank doesnt apply to all those big words cus i dont stir,and i have large slate rock ontop of my sand and i never get any kind of bubbles.

many many people on here have sand and i have never heard of sand killing any fish.
do you not want him to get sand or something?lol

is school out yet?
:grinno:
 
Just trying to give out some of the information I've learned in my past 30 years of fishkeeping. I'm sorry the words are too big for ya.
 
Do the bigger fish in sand bottom tank's, always keep the sand stirred up? Does the tank constantly remain cloudy?
 
The "cloudiness" is from very very fine particles that are either washed out before insertion or will be filtered out over time. Vacuming also helps to reduce these microscopic particles. Sooner or later, all that will be left are the larger grains of sand. As the sand is kicked up, it makes a small "cloud" that immediatly settles within seconds with no effect to water clearity. Getting it to this point will take a little time however but can be sped up by properly washing the sand first, cleaning often with a sand vac (or a standard vac with the tip taken off), and being sure to clean 3/4-1" deep.

No-one mentioned it in the "sand cleaning" post, but the use of paint strainer sitting an inch or two below the surface of the warm water in a bucket, will help to seriously reduce these smaller particles. The further you drop the strainer, the larger the particles the strainer will catch. Do you get what I'm saying?
 
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