soil Change

[yeffers]

I was told that I should tear down and remove / change the soil in my tank every couple years. I've had this set up a couple years now and recently a couple frogs have died. Was told to much decaying material in it ( leaves, flies, poop, ect. ). I think they died because the tank was to close to the ac and it got to cold. Any thoughts?

[MeiKVR6]

It depends what type of substrate you are using...

[skylsdale]

Soil is actually inorganic and doesn't break down...which is the benefit to using clay and soil-based substrates.

However, organic substrates (peat, coconut husk, fir bark, sphagnum moss, etc.) do tend to break down and compress over time.

It's hard to say what exactly killed your frogs based on the information you gave...but decaying things are actually a healthy and natural process, and given a decent amount of microbial and microfaunal action (and plants that are uptaking that), shouldn't really lead to deaths unless we're talking about a pretty anaerobic, stinking mass of substrate that could have led to possible infections.

[Jason DeSantis]

Originally Posted by skylsdale

Soil is actually inorganic and doesn't break down...which is the benefit to using clay and soil-based substrates.

However, organic substrates (peat, coconut husk, fir bark, sphagnum moss, etc.) do tend to break down and compress over time.

It's hard to say what exactly killed your frogs based on the information you gave...but decaying things are actually a healthy and natural process, and given a decent amount of microbial and microfaunal action (and plants that are uptaking that), shouldn't really lead to deaths unless we're talking about a pretty anaerobic, stinking mass of substrate that could have led to possible infections.

Well said!
J