Newbie with anaerobic bacteria question

[lulu4484]

Hi guys just wanted to start by saying what a great way to share knowledge! There have been numerous times i have already jumped on here to find out some answers!

I am just about finished cycling my tank and have a question regarding anearobic bacteria (i think thats what you call it) As far as i can gather this can occur within deep sand beds and the gas pockets can be very harmful. I have a bare bottom tank with potted plants in medium sized terracotta pots, using black sand , so the level of sand is quite deep and when i do stick something down into the sand lots of what looks like air bubbles are released some especially big. So im wondering could this be an issue also should mention its a freshwater setup .... not sure if its just normal airbubbles or harmful? Any advice would be great

 

[Luxquine]

To my knowledge, with black sand it's not very possible to tell for sure if the gas you're releasing is harmful or not. With deep sand beds the sand must be six or more inches deep, so perhaps the best course of action would be to just try and remove some of the sand, or just not disturb it in the first place. If you do need to stir it up I suggest first taking the pot out of the water just to be safe so you don't kill anything off.

 

[Hayleyy]

I have sand as a substrate in my tank and although it isn't very deep I do once a week right before a water change disturb the sand so any bubbles are released. When I do this I also tub my axolotl so it doesn't disturb her.