I have come across an article which looks at anerobic activity .In this case Planted Fish tanks it mentions the "
Hey Warren, Anaerobic conditions are very bad and can be fatal to fish and plants. It's basically places in your tank that have no O2. This ussually occurs if your substrate is too thick. Bacteria in the substrate use all the O2 while converting NO3 into N. They can also produce some other nasties like H2SO4 and other toxic substances. This is then very bad for plant roots causing them to rot and then killing the plant. It is also devastating to fish, firstly the lack of O2 and then all the other nasties that are produced. HTH
Thanks Jared for the info there. Now, about the substrate! My substrate is river gravel, 4-5mm plus flourite mixed in. Its about 3mm minimum to around 5 max! When I look at it, there cant be any water movement thru it because where will the flow be coming from? Unless you are running a underground filter, which I would not use, I would think that there has to be some anerobic cycling going on. I guess the important thing is that it does not get too much! I would be really interested in finding out how much anaerobic is actually taking place. This anaerobic is only taking place in the bottom 1mm I would think! So, maybe above the anaerobic there is the aerobic because of more access to c02! Is there anything on the market which measures the CO2 in your tank. Regards, Warren
HI there Just make sure that there are no rotting dead fish or high ammonia levels in the tank as it can also give the tank a very bad smell. You can measure your CO2 by measuring the pH and KH in your tank and useing this char: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
Hi Warren There are test kits for measuring CO2, but be very careful as the kits only last a year. Always check the expiry date.
