Moved Sand around, what should I expect?

[ken1977]

Before I did my routine 5 gallon water change I moved my sand around. I have a twin spot goby that moved a bunch of sand to the left side of my tank and left piece of glass showing at the bottom. Since I wanted to move the sand back I thought I would stir out ditritus and scrap the bottom walls of the tank. What should I expect and what should I do?

[ken1977]

Anyone out their?

[rajkovich207]

I moved my sand around a few weeks ago, since then I've had major diatoms on everything and some small HA patches popping up.

[ajcanale]

When you move your sand like that you are prone to doing a several things. 1. Disturbing or killing off some of the beneficial lifeforms (will turn to hydrogen sulfide) that have taken refuge in and are slowly stirring your sand. 2. Releasing pockets of nitrogen (okay) or pockets of Hydrogen Sulfide. 3. Disturbing the overall biological filtration process of your tank.

Now. Stirring a sand bed isn't necessarily a bad thing. Regular maintenance and stirring can be beneficial, but, it needs to be done in small sections at a time. When you move large portions around you disturb the biological balance of the entire system and raise your nutrient levels, hence the problems you are now having.

Hope this helps.

[jerseygurl]

The issue with moving sand around is that you may cause an ammonia spike, which could cause problems. I'd recommend that you vacuum the sand really well before you move it, making sure that whatever comes out of the sand also goes out of the tank. Once it's clean you can move it without concern.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by ajcanale

When you move your sand like that you are prone to doing a several things. 1. Disturbing or killing off some of the beneficial lifeforms (will turn to hydrogen sulfide) that have taken refuge in and are slowly stirring your sand. 2. Releasing pockets of nitrogen (okay) or pockets of Hydrogen Sulfide. 3. Disturbing the overall biological filtration process of your tank.

Now. Stirring a sand bed isn't necessarily a bad thing. Regular maintenance and stirring can be beneficial, but, it needs to be done in small sections at a time. When you move large portions around you disturb the biological balance of the entire system and raise your nutrient levels, hence the problems you are now having.

Hope this helps.

I'm no expert, but the items highlited above don't ring true to me.

Lifeforms don't turn into hydrogensulfide they die and beome ammonia and feed bacteria in the nitrogen cycle. Depending on how big the critter is, will determine how bad the ammonia and nitrate spikes are.

Unless the sand is 4"+ deep (as in a DSB), it's unlikely you will find hydrogensulfide pockets. You may stir up some detritus or nitrates and the stirred up detritus may become ammonia. But again, it depends on how old the sand is and how long it's been undisturbed and how much is disturbed that will determine how bad the ammonia spike or nitrate spike will be.

Both a few critters in my tank and I stir up some sand (near the front of the tank) all the time and I never have any issues. But if your sand bed is deeper than 1-2" and it hasn't been disturbed in a long time (as in months) I doubt that you will have any serious issues.

Good luck.

[ken1977]

I did it not to long ago. Nothing really happened. I did make an aquarium cocktail right after: prime, nitrate reducer, ph and some calcium. It went up a little but them balanced out.

[nanito]

I think it depends on how deep is your SB- how old the tank is- how big is the tank- how much sand you moved- and your livestock.
I am not an expert but that is what I think

[cloak]

If you didn't have any problems when the goby moved the sand to the left, you shouldn't have a problems moving it back to the right IMO. Don't overthink it...