Replacing sand in shrimp tank

[BarryH]

The white Maui sand in one of my earliest tanks is now quite dirty and discoloured and I hope to change it by siphoning it out a patch at a time. Naturally as I siphon the sand, water is drawn out too and I'm just wondering how often I can do this (topping up the water) without causing problems to the tank's cycle.
If I disturb the sand by trying to scoop it out, it just leaves a horrible cloudy mess in the water. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[xZaiox]

Siphoning out water and replacing it won't cause any issues with your tanks cycle, but taking out the sand and cleaning it might. There's a lot of good stuff living in the sand that is generally best off left alone.

How old is this tank? New tanks typically get diatoms coating everything, which can cause a very dirty looking tank, but they're harmless and usually go away by themselves if just left alone. Also white sand will never remain the same colour as when it goes in the tank.

 

[BarryH]

Siphoning out water and replacing it won't cause any issues with your tanks cycle, but taking out the sand and cleaning it might. There's a lot of good stuff living in the sand that is generally best off left alone.

How old is this tank? New tanks typically get diatoms coating everything, which can cause a very dirty looking tank, but they're harmless and usually go away by themselves if just left alone. Also white sand will never remain the same colour as when it goes in the tank.

Thanks for the reply. The sand has been in this particular tank for about 18 months. The main reason for changing the sand is that bubbles are starting to come out of the substrate and I wasn't sure if this was gaseous.

 

[xZaiox]

bubbles are starting to come out of the substrate

Ahhh... do you have any livestock that disturbs sand? Such as corydoras, loaches, malaysian trumpet snails etc?

The concern with bubbles in mature substrates is hydrogen sulfide, have you smelt anything 'rotten' when messing with the substrate so far? Regardless, this can also be prevented by regularly mixing the substrate - if you get a long skewer or prong, or something of that nature, and poke it through the substrate before doing a water change, it can help get oxygen down to the lower layers, and prevent hydrogen sulfide from forming in anoxic regions.

One of the best ways to prevent it happening is with malaysian trumpet snails, but be aware; once you have them, you will never not have them. They're very efficient cleaners and I personally love them in my tank. If you don't feed excessively then they won't be a problem, but if food flies everywhere then they'll breed out of control.

 

[BarryH]

Ahhh... do you have any livestock that disturbs sand? Such as corydoras, loaches, malaysian trumpet snails etc?

The concern with bubbles in mature substrates is hydrogen sulfide, have you smelt anything 'rotten' when messing with the substrate so far? Regardless, this can also be prevented by regularly mixing the substrate - if you get a long skewer or prong, or something of that nature, and poke it through the substrate before doing a water change, it can help get oxygen down to the lower layers, and prevent hydrogen sulfide from forming in anoxic regions.

One of the best ways to prevent it happening is with malaysian trumpet snails, but be aware; once you have them, you will never not have them. They're very efficient cleaners and I personally love them in my tank. If you don't feed excessively then they won't be a problem, but if food flies everywhere then they'll breed out of control.

Thanks for the help, I'll give it a try before doing anything else.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

One of the best ways to prevent it happening is with malaysian trumpet snails, but be aware; once you have them, you will never not have them. They're very efficient cleaners and I personally love them in my tank. If you don't feed excessively then they won't be a problem, but if food flies everywhere then they'll breed out of control.

I'm a Malaysian Trumpet Snail (Melanoides tuberculata) fan as well <"Snails!! Good or bad?">.

cheers Darrel