Iron waffle

You know how if you don't stir the substrate, harmful gas pockets occur. how long does it take for them to form if you don't stir the substrate

Just curious

pepetj

Hi Gilbert: I believe that depends on several factors.

Deeper substrates (e.g. 4" and higher) are prone to develop such dangerous gas pockets. If you perform weekly maintenance and stir/vacuum one side each time, you won't harm your bacteria and most likely will prevent that phenomenae from happening.

Temperature, dissolved oxygen, overfeeding, overstocking, deficient mechanical and biological filtration, are other factors that -most likely combined than in isolation- would contribute to raise the risk of experiencing deadly gas pockets.

That's the bit I know about it... hope it helps

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Iron waffle

Thanks pepe, i feel more at ease

clinton1621

Pepe is exactly right... a little more info that you might like to know, your tank is constantly producing these gases in small amounts even though you wont ever see it or even realize its happening. Its caused by anaerobic bacteria that break down solids in the absense of oxygen. They live in the bottom of your tank under the deepest areas of gravel and are always hard at work, just like the aerobic bacteria in your filter and in the upper layers of your gravel. They are perfectly natural and necessary to maintain a tank.

The problem that you are referring to is caused by excessively deep gravel that is never cleaned... the anaerobic bacteria and waste levels will build up for months or even years until they reach a breaking point and produce massive amounts of sulfur gas that bubble up out of the gravel, killing all the fish and quite possibly any land based animals (like you) that are in the vicinity of the toxic gas.

This actually occurs in nature with lakes and ponds that have little aeration and a lack of fresh water... its called bottom "turning", and it causes complete wipe outs of all fish in the body of water it affects... and there have also been people who were around these lakes/ponds when this happened who also died of exposure.

MrsM3197

Alrighty then! Grossy McEwww, if any of us need a little more inspiration to keep our tanks clean that'd be it! I know I don't want to be on the 10:00 news 'cause I died of fish gas. LOL!

MinxMermaid

Chief_waterchanger

Good explaination, Clinton.

Just to toss in, this happens with sand substrates also. A simple stirring that takes 5 seconds of your time saves the lives of your fish... Its worth it.

Martinismommy

Holy cow! If this happened in my house the entire block would blow up! lol

Allie

We've got 10 tanks and counting on a second floor apartment. 147 other apartments in the building...in a central area near businesses.

jdhef

There would be fins everywhere!

clinton1621

I'm not sure that its actually explosive gas, its just highly toxic lol.

MinxMermaid

at first i thought this was another post about fish farts

and just for the record, i never opened the thread about yellow spots on dog poop i was skeered.

Iron waffle

at the same time!

Butterfly

I believe it happens most often in sand tanks.These anaerobic gas pockets contain Hydrogen Sulfide and will smell like rotten eggs EEEWWWWW.
Here is an old thread at plantgeek.net discussing this very thing if you are interested in more information. http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1424
Carol

seedy

Hi everyone
I agree with butterfly . The smaller and tighter the substrate is packed , the more likely a pocket of gas could be formed .
A bit off topic , but the exploding house is a real threat not far from where I live . 100s of home owners have been told it would be wise to leave due to methane gas coming from an old tip .