# Aeration for Sand Substrate



## fishcurious (Mar 4, 2008)

We recently changed our substrate from gravel to Tahitian Black Moon Sand; and we love it. But I have no experience with the long term maintenance of a sand substrate. It is a 5 foot 100 gallon tank. When cleaning the tank you can't go into the sand or it all sucks out of the tank. In order to keep the sand aerated can I use snails in a controlled way? I read about Nerite Snails and what I read says they don't breed in freshwater (only brackish) so they wont over populate. Do they dig into the sand, which will aerate the sand? Do I even need to worry about aeration of the sand?

Any thoughts on your experience with snails or any other possible solution would be appreciated. Thank you.


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## aicardi (Sep 15, 2012)

Once I vacuum the debris from the top of the sand I run my fingers through it and get it nice and smooth. I let my mbuna take care of the aquascaping. Mine are ferocious diggers.
Toxic pockets of gasses *can* build up in sand over time if not churned.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Nerites don't dig in the sand. MTS do but they easily overpopulate. It's much easier to churn the sand with your hand like aicardi does. See the video in the Library about cleaning sand.


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## fishcurious (Mar 4, 2008)

Thank you for your replies. Raking will be added to our cleaning regimen.


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## canadasbeast (Apr 26, 2013)

I angle a powerhead in the right position so it picks up fish waste and pushes it to my overflow took me a few trys as it pushed the sand around as well but once u get the right angle it will not move the sand. As well now my sand stays super clean


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## ozman (Sep 7, 2012)

aicardi said:


> Once I vacuum the debris from the top of the sand I run my fingers through it and get it nice and smooth. I let my mbuna take care of the aquascaping. Mine are ferocious diggers.
> Toxic pockets of gasses *can* build up in sand over time if not churned.


+1... :thumb: or churn over your sand wilst using a gravel vac..same,same.


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## fishcurious (Mar 4, 2008)

Yes I was recently playing with the 3 powerheads I have in the tank and discovered the wonderful effect of water flow that bounces off the sides of the tank can be far more effective that pointing the powerhead directly where you think you want flow. I had a "dead" corner that was stumping me; but no more! Thanks Canadasbeast and ozman.


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