beneficial bacteria in sand substrate?

[Decz]

I am fairly new to the idea of using sand in any of my tanks. I currenly only have it in one of my 20 gallon's. The plan was to try it here for about 6 months, and see how it went. It has been in that tank for 5 months now.

When moving my tank, or changing gravel, I have always kept the gravel wet, to save the beneficial bacteria. Is this necessary with sand? Is there any significant level of bacteria that can place itself in/on sand?

 

[pinballqueen]

Now, I'm not an expert, so don't take this as golden, but I'm pretty sure that beneficial bacteria adhere to the surface of individual particles of substrate. So, since sand has much more surface area per pound than gravel, I would assume that there would be at least as much bacteria, if not tons more, in the sand. I would not suggest removing the sand from the tank unless you were going to toss it. The more you stir up and move the sand around, the more scratches you get on your tank. If you are planning on moving the tank, try to move it with the sand still in it, or else, YES, keep the sand wet, just like your gravel. It's the same bacteria, just in a different medium.

I could be wrong, though. Anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[JohnMemorialHS]

Technically, a square inch of sand would contain a lot more surface area for bacteria than gravel, but you might want to keep the sand bed shallow, if it's too deep, aneraobic spots will develope, not a good thing for FW tanks.

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

Thats the point of a Fluidized bed filter. Its filled with sand so the bacteria can have LOTS of surface area...with the proper water flow passing them..

 

[wetmanNY]

Sure the bacteria in a sand substrate are significant.

Sand is denser than gravel, and the diffusion of oxygen down from the surface is slower. This means that the aerobic zone is shallower in sand.All substrate is pretty much anoxic below the surface, both in nature and in aquaria. How many hours does it take for the anaerobic zones to re-establish themselves after a disturbance, like gravel-vacuuming I wonder? 24? 48?

Yes, do keep it all wet if you must move it around. I feel that you should scrape off the top half-inch and keep it separate from the rest, but all the microzones are going to get pretty much stirred together in a move anyway, so maybe it's hopeless to try.

When you say "sand" I figure you have plain construction sand without enrichment.

 

[Decz]

Playsand, actually. Thanks for the input everyone!