Greyness in sand?

[ltkenbo]

I have noticed that my sand is becoming grey underneath the main layers. Like if I take a turkey baster and suck up some from underneath the surface, it is grey colored and filled with little black bits, looks dirty. Is this due to sulphur dioxide or something building up? I am planning on changing my sand to something better and larger grained, would this be a good reason to do so? The sand bed is like 3 inches deep on average. I do notice bubbles forming underneath sometimes.

 

[andysgirl8800]

larger grained may trap more nitrates.

 

[avery155]

Would the bubbles be nitrogen from the waste being converted ammonia being converted to nitrites and then to nitrates and then finally to nitrogen in the sand bed?

 

[andysgirl8800]

DO you have anything in your tank turning over the sand?

 

[ltkenbo]

Yeah I thought about that but see I'm not sure. I'm wondering about the greyness of the sand. Yeah I know larger particles can trap more things but I'm not talking about gravel, I'm just talking about like 1mm rather than .1mm because that's what I have now and it sucks cause the sand blows everywhere. Yes, well I have nassurius snails, a bunch, there's tube worms and things, and then I have a goby which ends up turning up the sand.

 

[Bifferwine]

Gray sludge is usually just rotten food, fish poop, general detritus. A 3 inch sand bed isn't really deep enough to create those pockets of toxic gases -- those need an anaerobic environment, and 3 inches isn't deep enough to create an oxygen-deprived environment.

 

[andysgirl8800]

I think you just need a little more sand movement and it should clear up. Just my 2c

 

[ltkenbo]

Yeah that's what I figured, but the fine grained stuff just sucks, cause it erodes and goes everywhere so easily, and then lands on the rocks, that's kinda why I'm thinkin about getting some slightly larger grained sand.


Also, where's a good place on the internet to buy sand? Here in town, there's not much, and even fosterandsmithaquatics nor marinedepot have a good selection of substrates. I'm looking for something lik this:

Can't really find any good places on the internet to order it, it's natures' ocean Australian Gold Sand #0 but any similar sand would work

 

[ltkenbo]

Bump.....

 

[Bifferwine]

Sorry, the only place I've ordered sand from was Drs. Foster and Smith. I was happy with what I got, and even happier with their flat shipping rate.

 

[dcantucson]

That's exactly why I switched to this.
Red Sea Success Reef Base Substrate 11lbs