# Frogs & Toads > African Bullfrogs >  Substrate too deep?

## mmahek95

This is my enclosure for my pixie frog. It's a 75 gallon tank with 1/2  it being water and 1/2 land. It's eight inches deep.(This is an older picture, but the substrate was all the way up to the partition) Recently, I had  someone saying that the deep substrate could be harmful to my frog ("Your  substrate was much too deep. Also the moisture from the substrate will  slowing accumulate in the bottom of the substrate and it will become  stagnant. Stagnant water will poison the frog and can cause redleg a  very common amphibian disease caused by  the bacteria Aneramonas hydrophylia which is usually fatal. Substrate  only needs to be deep enough for the frog to cover itself. "). I have _never_  heard of this, and my frog loves to burrow. Is this true? I'm currently  in the process of remodeling my tank (caulking went wrong), so my frog is in a smaller  container for now, but if this is true, I need to rethink my design. I  like having the eight inches of water on the one side (I've an amazing  filter too! :Big Grin: ) because I can put fish like guppies (no feeders or  goldfish!) so it's more pleasing to the eye, but my frog also has  something to eat (and yes, he does love to swim as well). 
So, if eight inches is too much for the frog, would putting sand on the very bottom, and then adding about 5 1/2-6 inches of large rocks, and then adding about two inches of substrate work, or would it still be a problem?  My frog is still fairly tiny right now, but as he gets bigger I could always take out some of the rocks and give him more substrate?
Again, I've never heard of "too much substrate" being a problem, but I'd like to get this cleared up for my frogger :Frog Smile: 


Also, here's a picture of said frog. Yes, he is still quite the baby.  I just got him last Wednesday, he was starved and malnourished, but is doing so much better already! He ate six (small) crickets last night! I've yet to name him, so any suggestions would be nice :Big Grin:

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## Glenn

I have a similar setup; the sub is about 7" deep. 

My frog is an adult though.
There shouldn't be a problem as long as you replace the substrate regularly and mix up the soil every so often.
You should also avoid making the substrate overly wet, which along with sub replacement and mixing, will help alleviate problems with pooling and stagnant water.

That all said, you should probably keep it in something smaller until it grows into the tank. As it stands now, it looks like he can't even get into or out of the water without jumping high (if he can manage it at all).

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## mmahek95

This was an older picture, bigger rocks have been added and I got him a turtle dock so it's easier for him to climb in and out just fine.
Nice set up you have going there!

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## Lija

> I have a similar setup; the sub is about 7" deep. 
> 
> My frog is an adult though.
> There shouldn't be a problem as long as you replace the substrate regularly and mix up the soil every so often.
> You should also avoid making the substrate overly wet, which along with sub replacement and mixing, will help alleviate problems with pooling and stagnant water.
> 
> That all said, you should probably keep it in something smaller until it grows into the tank. As it stands now, it looks like he can't even get into or out of the water without jumping high (if he can manage it at all).


 What filter are you using and how often you change the water? I wanna do something similar  :Smile: 

mmahek - there is no such a thing as a substrate too deep  :Smile:   but you need to change it every month and stir it once in a while. Stagnant water, bacteria is a case when substrate is mud like, and/or not deep enough. 
 The only drawback of deep substrate is that a frog might burry itself very deep and you wont see him, but that is not a frog problem but yours  :Smile:

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## mmahek95

I know you didn't ask me about what filter I use...But I bought the Fluval 406 (100 gal) and it's amazing (I wanted a greater return- I just have to hold the tubes in place)- I highly recommend the Fluval- a smaller one should be just fine, I just spoil my frogs :Big Grin: 

I didn't think the deep substrate was a problem because I do mix it up on an almost daily basis, just to get my frog out so he'll eat (yes, he loves to burrow that much and that deep- and no, the heat isn't too high). I do think that for the size my current frog is, I think I might do the sand/big rock/ and then the substrate and then wean off that as he gets bigger enough to handle all the space.
You should've seen my frog when he first went into my 75 gallon tank-it was so funny, he was hopping all over, hunting and eating all the crickets, and then he tried to jump into the background I have set up (I think it might've confused him). 
Anyways, thank y'all for the feedback. I really didn't think the deep substrate was a problem, so thank you guys for confirming!  :Frog Smile:

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## Glenn

> What filter are you using and how often you change the water? I wanna do something similar


Sorry... I should really learn to check back more often.
It's a Fluval 305, though I replaced their crappy stock hoses with regular pvc ones.
It works well enough at clearing out the poops and maintaining water quality but you still gotta keep up with the water changes!

If he's in the water constantly I usually do small water changes every few days (10% or so) to keep ammonia in check. During the winter he was buried so all I did for four months was top off the water half  :Smile: 
You need to keep an eye on ammonia levels when he starts swimming again after a long break though, as the whole system will cycle all over again.

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