Sand balls??

[SuperProofer]

Hi,

I started to rinse my sand substrate to prepare it for my new tank. But, I noticed, when it gets wet, some of it turns into little balls (maybe it's air bubbles getting trapped inside??). Weird! So I did a test run with some of the sand in another little jar and, just like during the rinse, it balled up on the bottom of the jar. Is this normal? Will they eventually go away? I'd like the sand to look flat like it does when it's dry.

Also, some of the sand floats up to the top of the water surface and I can't get it to go back down - will this settle eventually as well?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Varanus]

Indeed it is probably just trapped air and should settle eventually, the shrimp's activities will help too (and snails if you get any).

[SuperProofer]

Perfect! Thanks!

[SuperProofer]

I took a picture of the sand balls and surface bubbles. They don't seem to be going away on their own. Any attempt to thwart them just creates more bubbles. So, you think the shrimp will eliminate this once they are introduced and start moving around in there? It's super annoying!

[Varanus]

Yup, they should go away over time. Or at least that's been my experience. Not sure if shrimp activity actually gets rid of them or not specifically.

[SuperProofer]

I hope so. They are messing up my aesthetics! Lol

[SuperProofer]

For the record - using a turkey baster and slowly filling up the bottom 1/3 or so of the tank, allowing the water to flow over some of the decor eliminated the air bubble and sand balls.