so i have everything set up nicely, the plants are growing, the sand is clean, and all is going fine. But when tomorrow comes and i have to clean my tank, how will i stir my sand with my plastic fork if there are plants all over the bottom? I have 2 pomacea bridgesii and i think i remember hearing somewhere that if i have snails, they stir the sand for me, but i don't think they two snail can stir my entire 29 gal. do i still have to stir the sand since i have plants? if so, then how do i do it with all the plants on the way? thanks
Well remember there will be some gas exchanged from the roots of the plants which will stop those areas from turning into dead zones. I would just gently stir where no roots are. Its hard though. A few roots always are uprooted.
And on the snails issue, that refers to the Malaysian livebearer snail. They are excellent at working through the substrate, helping to keep it loose and clean. I have them in my tanks. They are quite distinctive, shaped like a "horn of plenty". Many view them as a good addition to an aquarium.
Dont know about any gas exchanges thru roots (do know gas exchange thru leaves vis photosynthesis). but Do know such dead zone can occur depending on thickness of sand.
One simple way which I find most effective to ensure no dead zone was to add heat pad used to vivarium (reptile) which is applied outside of bottom glass. If can have temp control (water sensor and thermostat where heat pad is plug in, this will generate heat from bottom instead of heater in the tank. Well,
warm wate/air always rises, thus you have contant circulation thru sand w/o any physical disturbances.
Just make sure temp does not go too low at any one given time otherwise the roots would be cooked.
Heating thru this method would take longer than common heater in the tank
They are teeny tiny, as far as snails go. The biggest one I have looks to be just under just an inch. MTS stay tucked away during the day and come to life once the tank lights go off. I wouldn't think your fish would bother with them.
Mitch, if your cichlids see them, they will eat them.............i feed some of the pest snails from my other tanks to my africans, and they usually dont hit the substrate till they are eaten
FishinPole- Not that I'd ever disagree with you (afterall, we share an island ;-)) but I find the MTS to be very different from pest snails or any other snails. An adult MTS has a rock hard shell that I can't crush with my fingers and they are able to retreat pretty far back into their shells once they shut their operculum. Not even my loaches can get into these shells and loaches have an extreme fondness for snails. I watch my loaches toss them about, then they lose interest and move onto something else.
IMHO only a puffer could get into the shell of an MTS. Just my experience with them...
A friend of mine gave me some about 5 years ago and i put them in with my africans.....................I have never seen them since........You can disagree with me anytime.......I dont and never will claim to know it all and I like to have debated discussions over certain topics, as long as both parties can respect the other persons opinion...We had a bunch of short-termed members on here a few weeks ago who tried to cram their way of thinking down everyone's throat........
As for me, I will always defer to experience over opinion so, I just learned that africans can eat MTS!
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