please read if you have bogwood

[jimbooo]

Hi gang,

just thought i's share this with you.

i've been having a couple of problems with my 12G (reminder pic below) nitrates are Way too low and in desperate need of EI ferts. anyway not doing that till i get back from holiday (going next monday, yeehaa!!).

anyway getting to the point, i did a big clean up last night, pulled out all the stem plants and threw them out massive pruning of the swords and a bit pf riccia rearrangement etc... then decided to do a thorough gravel vac.

as you can see in the pic at least 70% of the gravel has bogwood sitting on it. this has not been vacuumed in at least 6 months so i pulled all the wood out to get access to the gravel.

under one piece of wood the gravel was totally black, literally could have been black gravel. also when i initially lifted the wood i got a big bubble of hydrogen sulphide in the face... nice

obviously the gravel had turned anerobic and the MTS were slacking.

fish seem a lot happier now after the clean up, just remember to move the wood around from time to time. i was rather horrified at my discovery!

 

[Bloo]

Oh shucks
I gently move my bogwood every few weeks to give it a good gravel vac - and the tank with sand I move on a weekly basis. So have never experienced that problem - thank goodness !

 

[kat and james]

oops.. do you reckon the same thing happens with slate.. we haven't moved the tank around for a while now... eeek!
alhtough the fish seem ok.. got something to do tonight then!

 

[Bloo]

oops.. do you reckon the same thing happens with slate.. we haven't moved the tank around for a while now... eeek!
alhtough the fish seem ok.. got something to do tonight then!

[snapback]914706[/snapback]​

Yep - same thing would certainly happen.

 

[pseud]

Yeaaaah, I found this same problem in my 20 gallon, I had lots of bogwood and 2 clown plecos. Recipe for disaster!

 

[jimbooo]

oops.. do you reckon the same thing happens with slate.. we haven't moved the tank around for a while now... eeek!
alhtough the fish seem ok.. got something to do tonight then!

[snapback]914706[/snapback]​

not really sure, i thought mine would be fine as it's actually pea gravel in that tank (with laterite) and with the trumpet snails i thought that was one problem i didn't need to worry about. the fish seemed fine but since the clean up theyre darting about like little kiddies i guess they were a bit lethargic before. seems plausable in the circumstances.

 

[kat and james]

well we'll be rearranging tonight then! thanks for the tip.. i would never have thought about this problem!! )

 

[rdd1952]

I have Eco Complete in my 75 gallon with about 1/2" of Tahitian Moon Sand on top of it. Tank has been set up since March and my fish are doing great. I have a piece of drift wood which is mounted on a piece of slate, about 4x4. Do you think that would be an issue with the EC? That is pretty course with some pretty big pieces? Obviously, if I move it, it won't be able to tell if it's black since the substrate is already black. My 4 angels are doing so well, I don't want to do anything to cause them problems. Knock on wood, they have done better than I ever dreamed they would considering some people say they are to delicate for a new tank.

 

[Bloo]

Obviously, if I move it, it won't be able to tell if it's black since the substrate is already black.

[snapback]914750[/snapback]​

Perhaps not just by looking at it. But certainly by shoving a gravel vac in there

 

[simonbrown403]

Old tank syndrome, a common carse of sudden ammonia spikes when you accidentally move your bogwood and rocks during maintenance.

I use to move my bogwood once a month and give the sand a good stir and suck up detritus from underneath, keep my tank fresh.

 

[SarahBravo]

I had the same thing with the rock in my malawi tank. I hadn't been moving it cos there's 50kgs in there..... then I had to take it out to try and catch a fish, and............OMG....... despite weekly gravel vacs on the exposed gravel there was enough fish poop under the rock to sink a battleship (or other appropriate analogy). Yuck!!!

 

[jimbooo]

just to clarify it wasn't poo the gravel was actually black. looked like charcoal and did not change colour even after the vac. i grabbed a few fistfulls and threw it out, some remained but i just mixed it in.

i dont want to be responsible for everyone pulling their tanks apart tonight. dont shout at me if you do so and all's fine. i'll feel terrible.

 

[simonbrown403]

i dont want to be responsible for everyone pulling their tanks apart tonight. dont shout at me if you do so and all's fine. i'll feel terrible.

[snapback]914790[/snapback]​

 

[littleimp]

This is a common occurence in marine aquaria becuase of the weight of the rock & to combat this the rock is held on a framework off of the tank bottom so it is not pressing down on the sand.

 

[Woodyofstoke]

just to clarify it wasn't poo the gravel was actually black. looked like charcoal and did not change colour even after the vac. i grabbed a few fistfulls and threw it out, some remained but i just mixed it in.

i dont want to be responsible for everyone pulling their tanks apart tonight. dont shout at me if you do so and all's fine. i'll feel terrible.

[snapback]914790[/snapback]​

Jeez you know how to make people happy....

just look at the tank i have just built....

there has to be something said about the good old undergravel filter....?