bubbles in my sand from Katrina

[supermarvin76]

He is the story.......I evacuated because of Katrina. Came back 6 weeks later, my house was ok, but my tank wasn't. ALL my fish were dead ( I only had about 5 fish) inverts, turbo snails, nassirus snails, hermits, feather dusters, emrald crab, ALL DEAD with the exception of 2 nassirus snails out of about 50-60 of them. State Farm said they don't cover fish tanks.

After I returned, I let the tank run with no live stock in it for about 3 months, did a water change, and now I have 2 chromis, 1 perc, a few hermits and a few turbo snails.

Ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate= 15-20.

When I look at the sand that is right up against the glass, I notice bubbles in the sand. The sand is aprrox 3-4" MAYBE 5" in some places.

What are these bubbles? Are they bad? Should I add some nassirus snails to sift the sand?

Any info / tips would be great.

Thanks

[mech]

the bubbles are a sign that your sand bed is active with bacteria, those bubbles are usually considered good, sand sifters are always helpfull.....

[supermarvin76]

ok..thanks.

But if the bubbles are good, won't sand sifters effect them?

What is the actual purpose of sand sifters?

[manderx]

depending on who you ask, those bubbles are: nitrogen gas from denitrification in the sandbed, or hydrogen sulfide from breaking stuff down in the absence of O2, or (the most likely thing IMO) O2 from algae growing between the glass and sand. if you sir a few spots of your sand, you'll probably notice all the bubbles are right on the edge where light reaches. i'd be surprised if you found bubbles rise from within the sandbed.

[Jon Lazar]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[supermarvin76]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6888131#post6888131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by manderx
depending on who you ask, those bubbles are: nitrogen gas from denitrification in the sandbed, or hydrogen sulfide from breaking stuff down in the absence of O2, or (the most likely thing IMO) O2 from algae growing between the glass and sand. if you sir a few spots of your sand, you'll probably notice all the bubbles are right on the edge where light reaches. i'd be surprised if you found bubbles rise from within the sandbed.

Thank you.......But, in English, what does this mean?

[supermarvin76]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6888139#post6888139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jon Lazar
Sorry to hear about your loss.

Thank you, but I am extreamly lucky that that is all I need to replace. There are many people here that stocking an aquarium is the last thing on their minds.

[smeegus]

I agree, you should be thankful. Both for your limited loss (at least I hope that was all) and for the bubbles. I am in the process of "Cycling" my tank and was VERY happy the other day when I came home from work and there were bubbles in the sand and on the rocks. I always wait for this before I start adding anything but sand, rock, water and powerheads. Good luck!!