In my 10 gallon "el natural", which has been running for about 2 or 3 months now, I have noticed something that disturbs me (other than the persistent nitrite levels - see my other thread for that).
When I lightly vacuum the gravel, barely touching the end of the vaccum to the gravel and certainly not disturbing the soil underneath, I see bubbles of gas escaping from the substrate. The effect is like seeing air bubbles come out of a sponge squeezed underwater, if that makes sense.
What gas is this?
Is this bad? Is it very bad?
The effect seems to happen mostly in the area that is unplanted (which is roughly a semicircle with a 15cm (6 inch) radius). The rest of the tank is heavily planted, but I leave this area for viewing the fish better and so the corys have a good place to hunt for food.
The substrate is 1.5 inches of potting soil and 1 inch of gravel. The plants are mostly fast growers, mostly hygro and similar, and are growing well.
I don't know if I need to worry about this gas or not. Any suggestions would be welcome.
When I lightly vacuum the gravel, barely touching the end of the vaccum to the gravel and certainly not disturbing the soil underneath, I see bubbles of gas escaping from the substrate. The effect is like seeing air bubbles come out of a sponge squeezed underwater, if that makes sense.
What gas is this?
Is this bad? Is it very bad?
The effect seems to happen mostly in the area that is unplanted (which is roughly a semicircle with a 15cm (6 inch) radius). The rest of the tank is heavily planted, but I leave this area for viewing the fish better and so the corys have a good place to hunt for food.
The substrate is 1.5 inches of potting soil and 1 inch of gravel. The plants are mostly fast growers, mostly hygro and similar, and are growing well.
I don't know if I need to worry about this gas or not. Any suggestions would be welcome.