Sand Gravel Smelling

[Eelzor]

The white sand in my tank is smelling. The way I found this out was when I transported it from my 10 gallon to my 45 gallon. It stank. Is that normal for sand? Or does it need cleaning?

 

[Kissifish]

Do you occasionally stir the sand? This should help release anaerobic gases that can build up under the sand. Also, I assume that you lightly vacuum the left overs and poop from the surface

 

[Lateral Line]

A lot depends on what it smells of. If it smells like rotten eggs or similar, then that probably indicates you had some anaerobic activity which has generated some Hydrogen Sulphide, (bad eggs smell), and you should be stirring up your sand a bit more as Kissi has suggested.

If it just smells a bit, errrm, "toilety", then if you have a lot of live plants, probably not a big deal, if not, then you probably want to be vacuuming your sand a bit more often.

 

[Eelzor]

Ah ok, yes the bad eggs smell it is. Ok ill lightly stire it up then. But one more thing. How do I vacuum the fish droppings off the sand?

 

[mrV]

If the bottom smell bad and is blocked, don't stir it: You only release those harmful compounds into water and fishes may die. You should use gravel cleaner to vacuum those harmful compounds away - straight to drain... Because you have sand it's quite difficult to vacuum it. If sand goes with water, collect sand before it goes to drain (put some pail or something to end of hose)...

After vacuuming it, keep it loose enough, don't let it go blocked again.