black sand

[jon]

today when doing my water change the water was stinking like never b4 then when stirring the sand i noticed that it has started to turn black
i do stir it when ever i do a water change so what do i do now with the sand turning black and the bad smell?

[jon]

can any1 help???

[mralgae]

hi jon.
sorry sand is not my area but found this or you,
hope it helps a little,

<quote>
Every 8-16 weeks, again, depending on fish load, a good churning of the sand bed is required. Trapped food and gasses can become toxic over time and these need to be released periodically. You’ll notice that there will be a statification of the sand bed. The bottom "trapped" layer of sand will turn a dark grey-black in time, and once the layer is churned up and the waste & gasses released, it will eventually turn back to the original sand color. You’ll even notice a bit of "rotten-egg" odor when churning the bed, this is normal and are just the gasses being released. At this time you should also move rocks and churn the sand under them. You may want to do half the tank at a time so there won’t be as much disturbance. You’ll have quite a cloud of debris, so you’ll want to let it settle and do a good skimming again. Be sure to keep all impeller-operated equipment off during the churning procedure.<un-quote>

the full link is.....


www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php#4

[karen]

How thick do you have your sand? i stir my sand every two weeks or so and i also would get some mts which will also help your sand.

[jon]

I used a whole bag of sand in my tank,i know thats far too much so i decided to remove all of the sand and what can i say i've never smelled anything so bad in my life.i have replaced it with nice black gravel i think its what mralgae has in his tank,it looks excellent brings out excellent colour of my fish so all 5hrs of it was worth it.

[karen]

Ah well we learn from our mistakes. Black gravel looks very well in tank it really brings out the colour of fish and plants,i might get some myself.

[jackpike]

If u keep only fish in a tank with no plants and u feel u must have gravel or sand for aesthetic reasons. I would only put 1/4 or 1/2 an inch layer in the tank. A small amount of gravel or sand means less crap can accumulate in it. Which equals less water quality problems.

[mralgae]

must agree with jp. if it is fine gravel like mine the fish waste will build up quite quickly in it. depending on how may fish etc.
but the black gravel does bring out the best of color in the fish so it is worth the extra bit of effort to keep it clean.

[jon]

I have noticed alot of dirt on the gravel already ands its only been a couple of days hopefully i have made the right decision changing to gravel

[mralgae]

the black gravel does tend to bring out the worst of the dirt as well as the fish color
it will settle down after a week or so jon, once you do a couple of gravel cleans it will be fine.

[jon]

Lol i do hope so!