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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on August 2, 2011 at 12:48am

When plant matter and detritus get into the soil anaerobic bacteria start to feed on them.  A byproduct of their feeding are gasses that get trapped in pockets under the soil.  If the bubbles have a rotten egg smell when they reach the surface that is bad (hydrogen sulfide) can also get some methane and I think ammonia.  All of these will kill.  I am still getting bubbles from my dirt and it's been a couple of months, but no smell.  So I am sure it is just O2 and CO2 in the dirt.  Get something that burrows in the substrate Malaysian trumpet snails, freshwater clams these will stir up the dirt when they dig and prevent air pockets from forming, but they move so slowly that they won't make a mess of the dirt.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on August 2, 2011 at 10:01am

very very bad idea to have snail dig into your dirt..if you like having dirt floating around in your tank and filter.

 

I have this problem of lately. This bubble would cause dirt to come out from underneath..not big but small pieces and you can see air pocket building in the dirt too....

 

Wat i do is push it down so it can fill up with sand.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on August 2, 2011 at 10:58am

No I don't think so.  I put 25 MTS in my tank plus all the little snails they have made by now and have no dirt on my sand/gravel.  They are used in aquariums for this very reason.  To burrow and aerate the substrate.  I would say if bubbles are bringing dirt up, you need more of a cap on your dirt.

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Permalink Reply by Shane Church - Churchhealzimpact on August 2, 2011 at 3:36pm

I've used MTS in almost all of my dirt tanks. Work great to limit the amount of anaroebic areas without any hassle.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on August 2, 2011 at 7:15pm

interesting....

 

i would like a video on how this snail go about in a dirt tank and why it wouldn't cause dirt to rise..

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Alner on August 3, 2011 at 6:45am

The dirt is going to give off gas, but don't worry until you see dark black areas, these are the anaerobic areas where it's stagnating and getting compacted . If the gas is being released I think you'll be fine as water will fill the void, better out than in with regards to the substrate and it shouldn't dissipate into the water that much.

 

I've not heard of using MTS for substrate aeration, interesting idea though.

 

 

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