Which Portion Of Gravel Has The Most Bacteria?

[Alps]

I'm planning on putting some of my current gravel into some old stockings to try and help seed the tank after I switch it to sand, but what section of gravel has the most bacteria? I was thinking the top because it gets the most light and exposure to nutrients, kind of like topsoil, and I'm planning on just trying to skim off the upper level of gravel to save for the seeding stocking. Any ideas or theories?

 

[Corleone]

What kind of filter do you have? If you don't have an undergravel filter, there won't be much in any of the gravel. Most of it will live in the media in your filter. You can swap part of it with the "clean" media in the new filter for what you want to do.

 

[Alps]

What kind of filter do you have? If you don't have an undergravel filter, there won't be much in any of the gravel. Most of it will live in the media in your filter. You can swap part of it with the "clean" media in the new filter for what you want to do.

oh i've got some very mature sponge media in my hang on back filter and that will still be around, but the more beneficial bacteria the better is what im going for.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Alps,

If you have mature sponges, then gravel will do nothing. Around 99% of your bacteria live in the filter (sponges in this case) and the other 1% is shared around the substrate, the plants, decor, tank walls and anything else with a surface to attach to.

Move your mature filter and everything will be just fine.

BTT

 

[Miss Wiggle]

agree with BTT (as ever)

 

[raptorrex]

What kind of filter do you have? If you don't have an undergravel filter, there won't be much in any of the gravel. Most of it will live in the media in your filter. You can swap part of it with the "clean" media in the new filter for what you want to do.

Hi Alps,

If you have mature sponges, then gravel will do nothing. Around 99% of your bacteria live in the filter (sponges in this case) and the other 1% is shared around the substrate, the plants, decor, tank walls and anything else with a surface to attach to.

Move your mature filter and everything will be just fine.

BTT

how much bacteria is in the substrate depends on how you keep your tank, i think the-wolf has covered this in a sticky. http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/71...-Fish-Aquarium/ but it is not unknown for a mini cycle to ensue after a substrate change, so you assume its important and try and keep as much of the stuff as you can.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Alps,

If you have mature sponges, then gravel will do nothing. Around 99% of your bacteria live in the filter (sponges in this case) and the other 1% is shared around the substrate, the plants, decor, tank walls and anything else with a surface to attach to.

Move your mature filter and everything will be just fine.

BTT

how much bacteria is in the substrate depends on how you keep your tank, i think the-wolf has covered this in a sticky. <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/71...-Fish-Aquarium/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/71...-Fish-Aquarium/</a> but it is not unknown for a mini cycle to ensue after a substrate change, so you assume its important and try and keep as much of the stuff as you can.

It does depend on how you keep your tank, but its only the difference between hardly any and virtually none, unless you are using the substrate as a filter medium (most commonly with an under-gravel filter as mentioned above by Corleone).

Mini cycles after a substrate change are usually caused by the the decaying organic matter in the substrate producing ammonia. When the gravel is stirred up, the ammonia will rise into the water column. It happens after a gravel vac too, when no substrate is removed. I would doubt that the minimal bacteria loss from a substrate change would have enough effect to create a mini-cycle (other than when a UGF is used obviously).

The stickied link is useful if you want to know how to wash sand, but not really relevant to how much bacteria lives in the substrate.

 

[raptorrex]

The stickied link is useful if you want to know how to wash sand, but not really relevant to how much bacteria lives in the substrate.

i agree it does not indicate how much bacteria there is in the substrate. it does indicant however, that some consider it worth keeping what there is. and as such, should not be ignored, or considered irrelevant.

 

[tenohfive]

I agree with BTT and Miss W, the amount of bacteria in the substrate is negligable. A mature filter can more than cope.

 

[Dan Robbins]

Which Portion Of Gravel Has The Most Bacteria?

the first 23cm from the left of the tank...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i have known a few people to have mini cycle's caused by changing the substrate, basically because loads of excess muck is stirred up the filter can't process it and cycles to catch up.

however i've changed substrates on a number of occasions and never once had a mini cycle, perhaps it's because i always overfilter so there's plenty of capacity, maybe i just do a good job of keeping my substrate clean, maybe i do a good job of getting out the excess muck stirred up when the substrate is changed.

I don't think that mini cycles when changing substrate are caused by a loss of bacteria, it's more a case of there being more waste than usual.

 

[tenohfive]

Thorough gravel cleaning before hand should reduce that though.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thorough gravel cleaning before hand should reduce that though.

yeah exactly, clean the tank thoroughly a few days before the change, then when you take the substrate out put a bit of water in afterwards and then vac it all out and you'll pick up most of the muck that was stirred up, then add the new substrate and fresh water and you shouldn't have too much extar waste in the filter column.

 

[Alps]

I switched it to sand and no problems at all. nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are all perfect and cories are loving their sand. Thanks for the help in this topic because it saved me the work of saving any substrate,

 

[OldMan47]

Glad it worked out for you Alps. I just set up 3 new tanks using a finer sand than I have in the past. My cories love the stuff but I will now be learning the vac technique needed.