# Substrate stir-up?



## LeeAberdeen (Sep 4, 2014)

I'm wondering if I'm a bit paranoid about trapped gas in my substrate because I'm stirring it up nearly every week and, when I did it yesterday, there was no gas at all. It would be great to do it less frequently because it's quite time-consuming in a seven-feet tank, and the white sand often needs vacuuming again afterwards because it shows every bit of dirt.

So, my question is, how often do you think I need to de-compact the 0.5mm sand to stop gases building up if I'm not overfeeding?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

How deep is your substrate?

I use about an inch of fine 'sand' in all my tanks and never have to stir it and don't worry about trapped gases. I actually need to level it out during water changes because the fish tend to move it around into piles.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I use slightly larger grained PFS in my two 6' tanks, and stir it up maybe once a year. My fish do dig a bit and rearrange it so, it does get moved during the year. Never really noticed a gas problem in my tanks that don't have a lot of live plants.


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## LeeAberdeen (Sep 4, 2014)

Deeda said:


> How deep is your substrate?
> 
> I use about an inch of fine 'sand' in all my tanks and never have to stir it and don't worry about trapped gases. I actually need to level it out during water changes because the fish tend to move it around into piles.


I guess mine probably averages out to about an inch too, maybe up to 1.5, but it's up to about four inches in small spots because of the aquascaping and the boys rearranging things constantly to their satisfaction. I don't think the red-top hongi even has a face, it's more of a shovel judging by all the digging he does.

It's more those deeper spots I'm concerned about, but it sounds like I might be overdoing it a bit.


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## LeeAberdeen (Sep 4, 2014)

nodima said:


> I use slightly larger grained PFS in my two 6' tanks, and stir it up maybe once a year. My fish do dig a bit and rearrange it so, it does get moved during the year. Never really noticed a gas problem in my tanks that don't have a lot of live plants.


Wish I'd used coarser sand now too because, although they love frolicking around in it, it's really hard to vacuum because I can't use the python without sucking up the sand with the dirt. I have to use the python to take the water out then syphon the dirt out separately with 16-22mm tubing to avoid getting the sand, which is a very delicate operation and still gets some sand anyway. There's 3-4mm sand on the other tank and it's about perfect because it's too heavy to be picked up but the dirt just flies off.

A once-a-year stir-up like you would be great and save loads of time.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Having Malaysia Trumpet Snails (MTS) helps keeping the sands "loose" because they dig and burrow in the sands during the light on. I always add MTS in all of my tanks.

They also help eating left over food in the crevices that fish can't access, and breaking down bigger fish poops.

In addition, they also remind me how I feed my fish. If I overfeed, they multiply a lot because they feast on the food left over. If I cut on the feeding, their number goes down again.


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## LeeAberdeen (Sep 4, 2014)

[quote="LeeAberdeen"Wish I'd used coarser sand now too because, although they love crazy around in it[/quote]

Now that's a bit weird, because you'll see from the above quote that it doesn't make sense? That's mainly because I never wrote that, but instead wrote "they love f r o l i c k i n g around in it", which does make sense.

It's difficult to understand why a system would change a perfectly-acceptable word to something nonsensical. It makes me look stupid plus, if I wanted to change something, I'm quite capable of doing it myself. The machines are taking over.


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