White Sandy Bottom

[ResMan22]

Hi.. I decided to go with sandy bottom on my little 15gal tank.. I only have like 4 little tetras in it right now... Now I know I cannot clean the bottom with a siphon cause it will suck it all up and make a mess.. Somebody told me to get some Catfish and some snails and they will go through the sand and eat any food or stuff that is on the bottom.. Can somebody give me some advice on a the specific fish I should buy to keep the sand clean and airated?? Thank U!

 

[smithrc]

no fish will eat poop...
to clean sand just hover the the end of the syphon (just the hose end) over the sand... the poop will get sucked up.

 

[ResMan22]

I know they won't eat to fish poop but I was told that I will get a top layer of caking on the sand if it just sits their for a long time so I should have some fish that go into the sand or move the sand around... Any ideas?

 

[smithrc]

a stick

we have milasyan trumpet snails in our sand tanks they help as they live in the sand.

our corys also love digging in it too.

Its best to stir the sand regularly to stop gasses building up.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

All my tanks have fine white sand in them and what i do is when i do my weekly water change i run my hand through the sand stirring it all. All the organic waste that has settled in the sand is lighter than the sand and gets stirred up/separated from the sand and i just let the filters handle the rest; it seems to work quite well and i having been doing this for about 8months and it seems to do the job very well and i don't need a syphon to do it.
Also i have corys and khuli loaches which also help keep the sand clean but either way you still have to stir up the sand every no and then because the bottom layer of sand which they can't reach sets rock hard and prevents plants from growing well and if you leave it longer enough you may get algae; thankfully(and almost weirdly though) i have never had to deal with algae in my 2years of fish keeping.

 

[parker313]

If your sand bed is less than 2" then it's fine

 

[smithrc]

If your sand bed is less than 2" then it's fine

fine for what?

gas?

we get build up in ours and its only 1.5" max

 

[Dorkhedeos]

how do you tell if there is gas?

 

[smithrc]

stir it up - it'll bubble up...

we sometimes see it against the glass, under the sand.

 

[in_denial]

I thought catfish eat the feces. It's what they do in the wild. They eat decaying matter.

 

[nc_nutcase]

Decaying matter and poop aren't the same thing... poop is former food that has all the nutrients removed. The catfish instinctively know this and steer away from it. You may from time to time see any fish suck up a piece of poo. 90% of the time they spit it back out... but sometimes they get anxious and swallow it. These are rare situations and shouldn't be counted on as a waste removal system.