How should you churn sand properly?

R

Reign

AC Members
Jul 7, 2012
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So I know that you are supposed to churn the sand around once in a while to release trapped gasses before they build to dangerous levels, and you do this by taking something like a stick and sticking it in the sand and moving it, but I had some questions about it:


1. Is it required to get the entire sand surface, even under decorations like a big rock? My tank has a fair number of decorations, and I don't want to have to move them all the time if I didn't need to.

2. How frequently should it be churned? I tried googling it, and the answers range from weekly to 4 times a year.



My sand is pool filter sand, it said Granusil Industrial Quartz from silica on the sand bag, and it's about an inch high on average. Thanks for reading.
 
yeah I heard about the sand thing too. supposedly anaerobes can grow in the sand and fix sulfur into gas. I have a bunch of planted tanks and use MTS to mix around the gravel/dirt mixture, which I guess is kinda like sand, and nothing has ever died on me. Of course with dirt you can't really churn it, but it should be similar to sand so I would say if you never churn it nothing bad would happen.
 
Well you should, just do it before it gets bad. There's a few ways to go about it. Get a burrowing animal in there (kuhli loach, snails, etc.), rake it with your fingers from time to time, or when you use a gravel vac you can push it into the sand and if you pull it up quick it'll drop all the sand therefore having turned it

Edit: let me clarify, some people can go forever without churning but that also depends on plants, I'm guessing the previous poster has plants. They will feed on that nasty stuff under the sand (there's even a thread in here somewhere where someone actually buries their dead fish in their sand for the plants to eat off of) but if you don't have plants (and even if you're lightly planted) I still wouldn't risk it. Sand is heavy enough to hold stuff down there but there could be that one day that it bubbles out or as you're vacuuming you hit a mess of some sort of decayed stuff. It stinks to high hell and can hurt the fish so just keep that in mind.
 
I would just add some MTS, you can find them for sale for about 10 for $1 + shipping. They'll keep it aerated. Gasses can build up rather quickly too I had large pockets get released after a tank only being setup for less then 2 months when I redecorated.

Also kuhli's dont do that great of a job, atleast mine only burrow under objects not open areas.
 
I have just noticed that myself about the kuhli's. I watched them get scared under the gravel at the LFS but at my house they just hang under decor
 
Yeah I guess with a tank with little or no decor like at the LFS they'll do what they have too but in my tank they only burrow under the rock and driftwood.
 
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