tames

Curious, if you do have a release of these gases, how long in average would it take to kill the life in the tank?

mommyeireanne

I understand the gas changes and becomes harmless as it rises. And letting the O2 in- by poking, MT snails or chemistry of plant roots- stops the anaerobic (bad) decay. It's when you don't fix an anaerobic problem that it could become dangerous for your fish.

marji4x

So how much would you need to poke? Like 5-10 times each day? I have no idea haha just trying to make my question clearer

mommyeireanne

I have a clay pot of E tenellus that smelled like it was anaerobic, it's 4" deep. I poked it with a chopstick all over, maybe a dozen times. Then I did it again in about a week. It seems fine now. I could pull it out and smell it. I pulled out my rocks that were on top of soil, so I wouldn't have to poke under them. My MT snails weren't trying to go under the rocks that I could tell. I have regular gravel.
But If I had sand in these, I'd do an experimental poke around to see if bubbles came up. If you get bubbles, poke around more to release all the bubbles. Check it again after a while, and consider adding the other things: heavily rooted plants, Malayan Trumpet Snails. Just keep an eye on it. If you have no bubbles or bad smell, then you wouldn't need to do anything, maybe just give it a check poke once a month when you trim plants. Bubbles and smell= poke around again later.

Prometheus

interesting...I was discussing anaerobic conditions with someone once and they said that I shouldn't be poking the substrate because the gases that would be released would harm the fish. So I stopped poking but every once in a while when I'm trimming plants or pulling something out there's a lot of bubble action. I don't notice anything smelly. Sometimes I've seen the bubbles escape on their own. Is this normal? Can it harm the fish?

I have MTS but it seems like they stay within half inch or so of the top of the gravel layer. Aren't the anaerobic conditions formed within the layer of soil and not in the gravel?

Alex123

Good to read this topic. I have been thinking about it myself prometheus. I wonder if the MTS goes below the gravel and into the soil layer. My soil layer can be seen on the side of the gravel and I have never seen MTS moving in the soil layer. I think it's time for me to do the hokey poky. The wooden Kabob skewer is good for poking around I think. It has a pointed end so would be less likely to poke the gravel into the soil. As for the bubble actions, I read that that is natural to see bubble release from the soil unless you smell something foul.