And natural colored gravel looks nice, in my own humble opinion, I'm not giving mine up either. Laticauda's tanks look nice 'cause she still has plants and things going on in her bare bottom tanks. I don't care for the totally bare tanks, looks like a market tank to me. Though, the folks who rock them around here always have drool worthy stock, so maybe that's why they do it, to keep from detracting from the fish?
Is Cleaning Gravel Necessary?
- Thread starter josephjeon
- Start date
From my understanding, the only time denitrifying bacteria works/colonates, is in SW environments.knifegill;4782703; said:
Otherwise, pockets of noxious gasses form, and when released cause toxicity/death in freshwater/brackish environments.
Tread carefully, my friend.
GolemGolem;4782734; said:
yes! natural gravel ftw! haha it is pretty... and the most expensive.... -_-
Laticauda;4782746; said:
Freshwater denitrifying bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide. Nasty stuff. Although I do believe there is a species that only produces CO2, and maybe some H2O, but it needs a steady diet of glucose. I don't think you can just dissolve sugar in your aquarium and call it a day though...
Not if you go to Walmart, and buy peagravel...that's what I did!josephjeon;4782766; said:
I never buy aquarium gravel (or most other things labeled "for aquariums" since it's such a racket and a rip-off!)
There are no actual reports of an anaerobic bubble ever killing a fish. Yes, they are loaded with nasty, but the two seconds they spend in the water column just isn't enough time to get many molecule's worth of sulfide or whatever it is into the tank. I've got a bubbling sand bed in my 5g planted rimless and the puffers and catfish are doing well, the puffers even flirt quite often. Every few hours, a bubble comes popping up through the sand and escapes. I strongly believe that tales of gas bubbles alone killing fish are true. Now if I went in there like an idiot and stirred that nasty black mess up I'd expect serious problems. But I don't. I just let it denitrify and it is far more help than harm. Yeah, it might be a roll of the dice, but I've got the guts to do it. And so far so good.
knifegill;4782797; said:
I don't think the gas itself kills the fish, but hydrogen sulfide is water soluble, and acidifies the water, so as the bubbles float up, some of the H2S dissolves into the water and lowers the pH, and if it lowers it enough, you could shock your fish with a huge pH swing the next time you do a large water change.
A 5g isn't a lot, but someone with a really big tank shouldn't do this unless the room the tank is in is very well ventilated, as H2S is poisonous and flammable.
