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Advice please?


Melissa Ann
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This is my dirted 20 gallon long that I literally lost every fish in (ich outbreak).  I am rebooting and need any and all advice on what to layer on top here before adding new fish.  There was a sulphur/rotten egg smell in the tank that I noticed while emptying. Comments? 
 

I was planning on adding more sand (10 pound bag) on top before filling but am wondering if gravel  first and then sand might be best.  Advice?  Can the phenomenal fish gurus here advise?  

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I had a 20 long with sand and dirt. If there was one thing I could change is that I would take out all the sand. It was not good for planting and it almost always let dirt out. The smell happened in my tank too. I would just hold in a breath take all the sand out and then add gravel. Take as much sand as you can out without disturbing the sand. I would add about 2 1/2 inches of gravel. 

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5 minutes ago, Melissa Ann said:

@CT - yet not dangerous, correct?  

I think it is dangerous but probably okay if you're not huffing it all day.  OSHA has a page about it.

 

Some say it'll kill fish if you disturb the sand.  Others say it'll just burp up and smell bad but not poison your fish.  Probably both true depending on how much gas is in there and how much time it gets to disolve.

 

Edit: To expand, It doesn't mix with your water when trapped in sand.  But if the sand is disturbed it can mix with your water.   I have no clue what a lethal fish dose is though.

Edited by CT_
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No problem, at least you're still in the hobby. It has happens to the best of us. I crashed my one of my tanks because of not taking care of it or not paying attention to obvious signs. I don't remember which but I was really sad, I lost some Zebra Danios that I had for 2 years, and I had named them ( I could the difference between their sizes, some where fatter than the others). Some of the fish made it like one of bronze corys (that is still alive today) she's almost like 4 years old now. It really sucks but you got to learn from your mistakes and push on. I think my problem was that I wasn't helping the gas out so a big bubble of it came out and killed most of my fish. I suggest getting some Malaysian trumpet snails to make sure it doesn't happen, if that is what caused my crash.

Edited by Paul_Obermiller
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