For the chemist who know fish

cgr

cgr

Member
About six weeks ago I switched fro CC to 5"+DSB. Everything is doing great but I have noticed a blueish/grey coloring along the glass just below the top inch of the substrate. There also air pockets along the same area. It almost has the look of baby swiss cheese with mold.
I also read on an article entitled Simple Guide to Aquarium Bacteria that anaerobic bacteria which grows deep in the substrate and under rocks and decorations can produce pockets of hydrogen sulfide which is lethal to marine fish. The article says, " in marine aquaria, just stirring an anaerobic pocket can kill the fish." Should I be concerned?
The article is in the web at http://www.geocities.com/josh_shiiling/bacteria.html
120 Gal FOWLR
1 Yellow tang
1 Blue tang
1 Sailfin tang
3 chromis
1 cleaner wrass
1 tomato clown
1 sleeper gobie
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 sandsifter star
emerald crabs,snails, blue and scarlet legged hermits
Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, PH 8.2, Salinity 1.024
5+” DSB
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
There are many people who like to poo-poo the DSB trend, and the hydrogen sulfide thing is one of their favorite argument. It could theoretically be a problem. The key is to keep a healthy DSB, which means that you have a lot of sand stirring critters like worms, pods, various snails, etc (you should see worm tubes, etc, in the sand bed). Without these, the sand bed can 'solidify' and allow large pockets to form.
However, you should avoid things that 'stir the sand' in their effort to hunt down these critters. The perfect example is the sand sifter star. Tiny sand bed fauna good, big sand stirrers potentially bad. THings like sand sifting cucumbers are good, however....just have to do a bit of research before you buy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top