Question: Fine Sand + Aquarium Maintenance Questions

[Huskar]

Hello everyone! I am new with axolotl tanks and I just have few questions about maintaining the tank.

First I have a very fine sand for substrate and I vaccume the sand after feeding and whenever I see poop with turkey baster and get the rest of it with water on the water change schedule.

I've read that there could be anaerobic bacteria growing in the sand and I was wondering what it is and how I can avoid that or get rid of it? Right now my water quality shows 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and very little nitrate. I use fluval 406 and I modes the baskets which contains foams on the first basket and rest of it is filled with 3kgs of biohome ultimate.

How can I keep my tank very clean? What can I avoid? I've read some articles about mixing/ disturbing sand during water changes to avoid anaerobic bacteria and some says leave it and I have no clue anything about sand. Currently I have around 2~2.5 inch thick sand for my Acura to walk around
Thank you for taking time reading this!

 

[keiko]

Anaerobic bacteria live in the sand in conditions without oxygen. If the sand layer is thick like in your tank then it's easier for the bacteria to start growing and decomposing wastes in there. I only have about an inch or less of sand in my tanks and haven't had any problems. It can be avoided by stirring the sand regularly, but remember to clean up wastes first so they don't get trapped in the sand and also stir under all the decorations. The anaerobic bacteria produce gasses which can be seen as bubbles rising from the sand when you poke in it and also turn the sand black.

 

[Huskar]

Thank you very much for the info!

So should I take some sand out to avoid it? And the water movement is very very low, would it effect it?

 

[keiko]

I don't think the water movement would affect it much. Axies don't like there to be much current so better just keep it low. You can siphon out some of the sand when you do a water change or if you want to keep all of it then just remember to stir it around often.

 

[Huskar]

Ok so will .5~1 inch thick find sand produce gases? And it's shallow sand beds that needs to be mixed/disturbed right? And is siphoning sand good or bad? Some say I can get rid of beneficial bacteria? Thanks!

 

[keiko]

It's still good to stir the sand every now and then even if there's less of it, just to be sure. Or if your axies like digging as much as mine, then you mostly just need to push the sand back to where it belongs and it's basically already been stirred.
Yes, you can lose some of the beneficial bacteria if you choose to siphon some of the sand out, but since you only need to do it once, it's not that bad. If you just gently siphon over the sand later when you're cleaning the tank then you won't lose any of the bacteria as long as you don't lose any of the sand.

 

[Huskar]

Thank you very much for the information! I much appreciate it!