Soil Keeps Bubbling...

So I tried a dirt tank for the first time--just a 10 gallon as a trial setup, with 3/4"-1" of Miracle Grow Organic, capped with a little black sand and some gravel. I did not mix anything into the soil because I saw at the last minute that I should add something like clay pellets "for iron". It's been up and planted for about a month, with fish and a completed cycle. But the soil keeps releasing bubbles. I even pressed down on it last week to squeeze out some areas, and they have puffed back up with new gas bubbles. I assume there are pockets of bacteria hard at work in there, but how do I tell if they're aerobic or anaerobic, and is this OK in any case? I'm not smelling "rotten eggs" or anything, but then again I've had a cold for the last 3 weeks, and can't really smell right now :/ The fish seem fine, ammonia is 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10 (all normal for this set-up). There are a lot of floating plants, but no carpet, and other than some small crypts and a mystery stem plant (Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus??), nothing is staying planted

 

Assuming the ammonia is showing for an unknown reason and your tank is cycled, doesn't ol' dustin say to drip fill the tank so the soil gets completely flooded? Maybe you filled the tank up too quickly.

 

Assuming the ammonia is showing for an unknown reason and your tank is cycled, doesn't ol' dustin say to drip fill the tank so the soil gets completely flooded? Maybe you filled the tank up too quickly.

I didn't drip fill, but I did fill up only to the depth of the soil, then I messed with the soil for a bit, shaping it and wetting it, and then let it sit for 24-hrs. But it definitely could have been unevenly wetted, since I had very little idea what I was doing

 

Oh, and the ammonia seems to come from my tap, which registers 0.50-1.0, and I have to do 50% water changes on this setup 2-3x per week, thanks to my Endlers going baby-crazy in there.

 

It's normal, just built up gases from the decaying organics. I recommend you carefully poke the substrate regularly to release the gases. Before water changes is probably a good idea. If you don't poke the substrate it could develop anaerobic conditions and/or cause a mess when it erupts. It should stop eventually so you shouldn't need to do this forever. If you do another dirted tank try to sift out any large pieces of organics like wood and twigs etc it should help.

 

It's normal, just built up gases from the decaying organics. I recommend you carefully poke the substrate regularly to release the gases. Before water changes is probably a good idea. If you don't poke the substrate it could develop anaerobic conditions and/or cause a mess when it erupts. It should stop eventually so you shouldn't need to do this forever. If you do another dirted tank try to sift out any large pieces of organics like wood and twigs etc it should help.

I sifted the heck out of this stuff In fact I was wondering if that was part of the issue--I made it too fine. Thanks for the info, and I will keep poking/squishing!

 

I sifted the heck out of this stuff In fact I was wondering if that was part of the issue--I made it too fine. Thanks for the info, and I will keep poking/squishing!

lol no sifting it wasn't the problem.