Sand Stirring

[Welsh]

I understand that trumpet snails can help stir up sand but is there anything else than can do this?

[betta99]

Most bottom feeders will swim around actively in the sand, especially during feeding time. Also, African Dwarf Frogs might do that too.

[Adastra]

Various types of catfish and kuhli loaches, for instance--but if your tank is small, then you should probably go with the MTS. They're pretty easily available and they're nocturnal, so you don't see a tank covered with snails all day.

[Welsh]

Im assuming like other snails their numbers increase quite quickly? lol

[weluvbettas]

Originally Posted by Welsh

Im assuming like other snails their numbers increase quite quickly? lol

Yes my friend bought two ramshorn snails off ebay and by the end of the weeks he had 30! I now have about 6 and my other friend has a fish bowl of about 60!

[Welsh]

When people have carpet plants in their tanks what substrate would they likely have? I'm assuming sand wouldn't be one of them right? i'v been trying to encourage moss to grow across my substrate for a while now but since I have to stir it up every so often it doesn't get very far, do people have sand as substrate with carpet plants?

Thanks :)

[TharBePirates]

Originally Posted by Welsh

When people have carpet plants in their tanks what substrate would they likely have? I'm assuming sand wouldn't be one of them right? i'v been trying to encourage moss to grow across my substrate for a while now but since I have to stir it up every so often it doesn't get very far, do people have sand as substrate with carpet plants?

Thanks :)

I was looking into this too. I learned that what you do is you find some kind of screen/mesh like material, put the moss on top and then anchor it to the piece of screen via fishing line, weaving in and out through the screen holes just enough so that it's tied down. Then, you put it in you tank and sprinkle substrate on it to weight it down. The end result is a kind of a mat that wont get stirred around. :)

[Welsh]

Yeah, iv done this before but what I mean is, sand has to be stirred on a regular basis so if eventually the moss or any other carpet plant takes over the substrate how would the person then stir the sand lol. Does that make sense? it kinda sounds a bit like a riddle to me haha

[Ajones108]

Bumping this because I want to know the answer too. I've been thinking about a sand tank but I also want a java moss carpet. You have to stir sand?

[Tomsk]

With my sand substrate Betta tank (I have bogwood and live plants) I just poke the sand in random places before I do a water change ( I presume you are stirring the sand to prevent gas pockets forming?) this can be done around plants like Java fern if using something like a knitting needle etc.

Tomsk