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Re: sand washing/aerobic substrate.

Sparrow wrote
> Thanks to Cliff and Vahe for at least trying to answer what might have > seemed a silly question. I did mention that I had tried the swirling 
> about in a bucket technique, and that it had taken a long time and a 
> HUGE amount of drought stricken London's precious water to get to a 
> clear run-off point, with only a half bucket or so full of sand. I now > have a much larger tank to provide for, and I don't want the water 
> police round........
> However, I think the response from DQ was quite un-called for in it's
> patronising and facetious tone, I know irony does not travel well 
> across the atlantic in either direction, but even after making > allowances.........
Guilty as charged, but with reason. 
   I wouldn't give 2 cents for all the political correctness in the
world. This does not mean I don't understand the words sensitivity and
courtesy. I answer about 100 e-mail questions a week from Universities,
pet shops, newbies and oldies. Most of them are asking for my opinions
and advice. It's rare that I take over 24 hrs. to reply. Most, also
understand that my advice is freely given and are polite enough to use
real names. If someone wants to use an alias to solicit information from 
me, that's fine too. I respect that as long as it's addressed to me at
my personal e-mail address. I might also add, that most folks, whether
they agree with my thoughts or not, send a little thank you. That's nice
and that's class (which I can also recognize).
  In the "birds" chastisement of me above, he didn't mention that he
sent me the same message to my personal e-mail address. Shortly after
recieving it, I sent him my reply. I answered all your questions with NO
sarchasm.
  I got no reply. A half day later, the same message pops up here in the
APD. It even had my name still on it.  Puzzling, that he wants a
personal response from me in an international forum. Suspicious, because
a Sparrow offers a lot of advice to others, but doesn't know how to
rinse sand?? Not knowing his motive for the post in the APD makes me
wonder. Could it be that someone likes me to type a lot? Could it be
that someone didn't like my straight answers in the first response?
Could it be a test to have my answers to his questions scutinized in a
public forum? Could it be that someone likes there name in the lights?
 As far as referring to him as a "little bird in distress", there's no
retraction from me. Using an alias is the same as being anonymous. In a
personal note, I don't care what your name is. In a message sent to a
public forum, it loses a great deal of credibility. Since you use
Sparrow with out a Mr. or Ms., first or last name, calling you a little
bird seems quiet accurate. 
  You also took issue with me when I suggested that most substrates are
anaerobic.  
Sparrow said
> Most substrates are NOT anaerobic, otherwise nitrobacter and nitrosoma > could not live there, and H2S and other nasties would prevail
 Now this is a topic that belongs here, and is worth a discussion. It's
my opinion that most of the oxygen in an aquarium is to be found in the
water column or filter. I would also think that it would be quite
difficult for oxygen to get past the matrix formed by the aerobic
bacteria on the surface of a substrate without a means of
transportation. Therefore, if there is no oxygen in the substrate, it
has to be anaerobic. I do hope someone more learned that the bird an I,
can put this to rest.

BTW- I won't answer any more of this thread on sand washing, except at
my personal e-mail address. 
Dan Quackenbush