# MTS volcanos!



## Nue (Aug 26, 2010)

Hello everyone. 

I am trying to get in the mts world, and seem to be having some stopping points. I'm on my second try with this 2.5 gallon aquarium.
The Top Soil I used was from Home Depot, eco something. I first did the mineralization process 5 or 6 times, and at that point it seemed ready. 
I used it with only a little bit of crushed coral, epsom salt, and mexican red clay. And I capped it with play sand. 
Very quickly it started to rise, like a cake in the oven. I would (whats the best way to say this) untrap? the gas pockets, but they would come back with friends. Before long it was all messed, dark brown water and no play sand in sight. 
So I restarted, this time after 2 months of mineralizing. It was sure to be ready! And I capped it with Tahitian Sand. 
Now, it did good for the first couple weeks, I added a Betta, and plants were starting to grow. And I have been keeping up on poking the surface, and added MTS snails. So now at 5 weeks its starting to bake again, and the water is red from the clay, I used more clay this time. So a million water changes later and I'm still getting this gas build up and there is debris from the eruptions everywhere. I knew I would get the gas pockets, but this bad?

Any advice or reassurance would be appreciated. 

Thanks!


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## mthom211 (Sep 3, 2010)

I would use a courser cap. Moon sand and play sand are pretty fine grained. If you want sand try pool filter sand.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Do the bubbles have a sullfur odor? I've had the gas bubbles before but nothing as troublesome as what you are having. How deep is the substrate and how heavily planted is the tank?


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