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Deep sand beds releasing deadly toxins/ sand sifters?


FrozenFins
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hey,

I have just started keeping sand as the substrate with aquariums and I understand that with deep sand beds it can release deadly toxins and so you need to push the substrate around to prevent it.

If I add corydoras/ geophagous will I have to push the sand around? Or as they scurry around the sand, will they do it for me?

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I haven't specifically tested this but I believe that Malaysian trumpet snails may help you more than having a fish that only messes with the top of substrate. You could also pretty easily prevent anoxic pockets just by stirring the substrate while gravel vacing, though your plants in the immediate area may not appreciate it.

Edited by ange
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How deep is your substrate? Deep sand beds are used to remove nitrate in saltwater tanks and sometimes in freshwater tanks. Typically they need to be at least 4-6 inches to prevent oxygen from reaching the bottom because the nitrate consuming bacteria in anaerobic. 

If you're trying to avoid anaerobic conditions in the substrate then you can limit your substrate to 2-3 inches, get sand shifters or MTS and have lots of plants (their roots also release oxygen into the substrate).

I want to set up a deep sand bed tank just to see how well it works and because how they function is interesting. 

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I have about an average 4 inches of pool filter sand in my 55g (Some areas are closer to 8 inches if not more) I use Malaysian Trumpet Snails to keep the sand turned over for me and I have not any issues since I set it up in May of 2020. I prefer deep substrates so I can easily create hills and valleys while also being able to easily keep plants rooted in the valley sections.

I have also used about 3 inches of play sand in a 10g, it was set up for about 4months. I did not have Malaysian Trumpet Snails in that tank. During that entire period, I had all kinds of issues. A weird translucent film covering my fish/crayfish, a massive algae outbreak and an outbreak of Popeye. After removing the fish and letting it sit for a few months, the water continued to test high on ammonia, nitrites and nitrates despite no food or livestock being in the tank, it was a very frustrating time. My Dwarf Hairgrass began to die and my hornwort hardly grew at all. I replaced the substrate with gravel and the problems disappeared. I am not sure if it was not keeping the sand turned over or if it was specifically the play sand being the problem but regardless, I will be using MTS for any sand substrate from now on as well as never using play sand again.

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I kept this aquarium from 2007 until 2013 with substrate that was 5 - 6" in the areas with the least substrate and at least 15" deep in the area to the right in this photo. Plant growth was not an issue.

828311812_October6012.jpg.bca17c9fbbe061cf66838799253f51b9.jpg

In a successful hunt for the chemosynthetic bacteria (Beggiatoa sp.) that feed on hydrogen sulfide gas, the deadly toxin mentioned above, my son and I dug through several feet of hydrogen sulfide producing anaerobic muck in a salt flat.

1851016204_MVLS055.jpg.d4c0bfa6af8ea7a86e99a036d0d5c2c7.jpg

The photo is at low tide. At high tide this area is full of shrimp, juvenile fish and adults. At high tide there were visible bubbles of hydrogen sulfide gas which you could also smell (smells like rotten eggs). Whatever the effect of the toxic gases coming from the deep sand and the hydrogen sulfide producing anaerobic muck below that, one of the effects was not to kill fish or plants. On the contrary, these salt flats are the nurseries of massive numbers of baby fish and the foundation of North Carolina coastal fishing industry.

 

MVLS 079.jpg

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