So much poop!

[tennis4you]

I changed from gravel to sand on Saturday. It is a 30g tank with 7 neon tetra, 3 small dainos and 2 other tetra. All very small. Now that I changed to sand you can see the fishie poop. But the biggest problemo is the amount of poop. I swear there must be 500 piece of poop on the sand since Saturday. I cleaned it yesterday and today there is just a ton more again.

What do sand users do to combat this? Clean the substrate every few days?

[akangelfood]

I do weekly "cleanings" when I do my water changes. Basically, I just swirl the siphon slightly above the surface of the sand to kick up any debris that is lying on the surface. There is, of course, some waste to be seen on the surface, but it's just a matter of how much it bothers you. I know it would be there whether I can see it or not, so it doesn't really bug me much. It's just part of the biology within a tank.

One thing that I did notice is that putting some type of "sand stirring" fish in the tank helps too, if that makes sense. For example, in my case, I moved one of my albino bristlenose plecos into one of my tanks with light sand. I wasn't expecting this, but she does actually help keep the gunk off of the substrate, not by eating it, but by swooshing along the bottom of the tank flicking her tail. This action kicks the gunk up into the water where the filters can get it.

If being able to see the waste, which would be there anyway, bothers you a lot, you might want to consider a different substrate...

[Ricker]

I never have waste on the bottom. My bottom feeders eat it.

[tennis4you]

Thanks you two. I like the idea of a bottom dweller kicking it up some and giving the filter a chance to grab hold.

What kind of bottom feeder eats fish poop ricker?

[Ricker]

my corys do and some snails. I am not sure fi they all eat them but mine do.

[JustOneMore20]

Cories don't eat poo and I'm pretty sure snails don't either. I'm assuming your filter is powerful enough to suck the poo up or it gets hidden somehow. No fish eats poo.

[lohachata]

there is no species of fish that eats excrement..those that are bottom feeders just kind of sift through the substrate and pick up any uneaten food they find..but they do often stir things up and allow it to be pulled into a filter.

[COM]

If any of us could genetically engineer a poo eating fish we'd be rich... too bad I know nothing about genetics.

[Good Wolf]

I had the same problem with the light colored sand so I got some black moon sand and just mixed it in with the light colored sand. Problem solved.

[Ricker]

I have seen my cory eat poop maybe it was a one time thing but ya I do have a good size filter on my 10 a penguin 350 so I guess that is strong.

[COM]

Wow, that's a big filter for a 10 gallon tank. If it is running at its rated speed, you're turning your water over 35 times per hour. How are the fish doing in that current? I ask because I recently bought an Penguin 200 for my ten gallon and then exchanged it for a Penguin 150 because I thought it would annoy the fish. If you're doing this on saltwater never mind, I know it's a totally different story.

[Ricker]

FW use. But I modded it to were it wouldn't put so much down force in the water. just glued a piece of plastic that was curved in a S and it helps keep water current down also I put a piece of plastic in the tube slanted. Only reason that it is on it is because it was the only one I had so I figured I would use it. Heck it is clean but had a recent outbreak of green algae. But I am getting ready to take it off the tank and add a filter that does only 100GPH.