Ramshorns are capable of causing snail overload all by themselves. If you're able to keep them in check, then you're good in that area. They share a similar niche, so you may need to feed them more (which will increase the bioload) because they'll be competing... I don't know if one species is capable completely starving out the other or not...
I haven't seen little ramshorns in the tank. Maybe my Oto's or rams are eating the eggs or the babies? I don't feed my snails anything particular. I just want them to eat any algae that's in the tank. Maybe the lean diet is preventing them from multiplying? I just hate to add more snails if I don't really need them. I'm now thinking these are nitrogen gas bubbles created by denitrifying bacteria, which would be a beneficial biological process for my tanks. MTS may reduce this activity by increased aeration in the substrate?
I'm now thinking these are nitrogen gas bubbles created by denitrifying bacteria, which would be a beneficial biological process for my tanks. MTS may reduce this activity by increased aeration in the substrate?
That's the idea. The common worry is that the nitrogen gas will dissolve into the water and poison the fish, but "deep sand bed" enthusiasts don't agree
I have anaerobic gas release all the time from my high tech tank. 1.5" of dirt capped with 1.5" of sand. Just about every time I slightly disturb the substrate some release. They smell like sulfur but I don't see any negative effects from them. All I do to control it is MTS and poke with a skewer maybe once or twice a month.
Sent from my VS980 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
N2O/N2 (from denitrifiers) likely wouldn't cause a problem...it's H2S (from sulfate reducers) that could become an issue if it builds up. You'd know the difference if you were able to smell the bubble
Like others have said I wouldn't worry too much. Manual mixing or adding some MTS puts my mind at ease, personally...
Is N2 harmful to fish? I thought denitrification is the final step in the cycle we all seek to establish. Nitrate to N2 gas conversion and release into atmosphere. With enough of this conversion, nitrates should not be an issue just like ammonia and nitrites are not an issue for most of us in a well cycled tank.
Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Shouldn't be in a tank with enough turnover...I've only heard of it ever being dangerous to fish ("gas bubble disease") under supersaturating conditions.
Most times the "cycle" refers to the nitrification process exclusively. We prefer NO3 because it is more tolerable to aquatic organisms than NH4/NH3 or NO2 at significant concentrations ie. those reached before regular water changes.
Denitrifiers are usually facultative anaerobes so it wouldn't surprise me if they did inhabit tanks, but the reduction of NO3 isn't going to be dominant with oxygen present...so unless you're purposefully creating conditions that favor denitrification (e.g. a DSB), I have doubts that it would be occurring at a rate that would offset nitrification.
That's all just a hunch though as it would take means outside those available to hobbyists to verify. Very rarely do you see a well-stocked tank not register NO3 over say a weeks time unless heavily planted, in which case the assumption is that the N "loss" is mostly due to uptake.
My 5 gallon beta/RCS tank has the most gas production in the substrate, so I let this tank run for 2 weeks without a WC to see where my parameters end up. Interestingly, there are no detectable amount of nitrate. So perhaps in this little tank with small bio load and enough plants, the nitrogen cycle is working really well. I have maybe 2 inches of PFS. It was seeded with BB from a product that claims it has denitrifiers. Since they seem to like the sand environment, I won't add any MTS right now.
