Anaerobic Bacteria in my shark pool

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capo larzo

Candiru
MFK Member
May 9, 2009
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New York
Ive got anaerobic bacteria growing in my shallow sand bed in my 12' shark pool. My question is now how do i get rid of it without killing my sharks and fish?

I guess i could gravel vac the sand but we're talking about over 100 square feet of surface area!!

I was thinking about adding one of my stingrays to the pool and just letting him stir it up a little each day.

Any help and information is very much appreciated.
 
yeah, only way is to add things that stir up sand. Is there any type of snail for saltwater that breed fast and dig through the sand? Also, how deep is your sand?

I might add, i've never kept a sw tank, so all my knowledge is based off fw
 
How dangerous is it to release these noxious gases and compounds. Will i have to do a small area daily? If so, by the time i finish the last area, the first area will already be going anaerobic again and i wont be able to add a sand stirrer like a stingray.

What if i stir the whole pool now before it gets bad?
 
I dunno, thats sketchy. Do alot of bubbles come up when you stir the sand? Or is it only is some areas? The only time I get anaerobic pockets is under rocks and driftwood in the sand, the rest of the area the trumpet snails, peacock eels, chaca chaca and geophagus stir up. I've heard of whole tank poisonings while stirring large anaerobic pockets, so id be very careful. I dont know if it will work, but you might wanna do 10sqft patches at a time while running some chemical filtration like activated carbon or something. For a saltwater pool 100sq ft though, id message ZOODIVER to get a good opinion, as he has worked with enormous SW set ups.
 
No bubbles yet but the bottom layer is turning black
 
sound's serious might wanna run a search about the issue on Yahoo for some further information

mr.reef24
 
throw in some nassarius snails or maybe even sand sifting starfish. they should stir up the sand. just keep an eye on your params. they'll also give your sharks something to eat if they find them.

if you want to prevent the development of anerobic pockets, rather than deal with them as they appear. you could get rid of some of your sand, this will make it harder for the anerobic bacteria to survive. or even go for a bare bottomed tank setup.
 
horseshoe crabs should work OK (especially with such a nice sized tank) they shouldn't get messed with if they're large enough

there are also sand sifting crabs (you'd need to replace, but they'd make nice snacks for the sharks)


how deep IS the sand bed?
 
about 900 pounds, coming to about 1 inch
I added one of my california round rays to stir up some sand.
We'll see how it goes.

Bare bottom is not an option.
 
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