WAG741L
Fish Fanatic
I have not posted this in the Beginners' section, because most beginners will start with new gravel, and the questions/comments arising from this post may not be relevant. Sorry, Webmasters, if I am wrong ...
I recently bought another (!) nice fish tank, second-hand. The seller supplied a plastic box of dryish fine gravel, I did not examine it closely, but it had clearly not been used for a little while.
I decided that I would give it a good clean before starting to set up the aquarium, because I am in no hurry to fill it with fish, and I can give it time to cycle. As everything else (filtration, etc) will be new, I am unconcerned. No fish will be introduced until the water parameters are acceptable.
I started by running tap water over the gravel, and allowing it to spill over the sides of the box. I used a shower head, and water from the cold tap. At this point, I thought I could smell a whiff of ammonia, and wearing latex gloves, I made circular motions with my hands in the gravel. The water above the gravel had been crystal clear and sparkling, but now became brown and cloudy, as might be expected. I also thought the smell of ammonia intensified. As the gravel swirled, I saw that the pebbles sank fairly quickly, but a few small snail shells were still circling in the water, taking longer to sink. The shells are anything from a quarter to three-eights of an inch long, and much longer than they are wide.
Following lengthy rinsing in clear water, the taint of ammonia has gone. replaced by an earthy smell, and if I am going to use the gravel, I will rinse it using a metal sieve and boiling water.
I have a couple of misgivings, though, and would be grateful for advice:
1 Although I have not seen any, I am concerned as to whether some of the shells may contain snail corpses which will pollute the water when the aquarium is set up. I may be worrying unnecessarily, as the shells may be empty as a result of some treatment. I am not worried about them visually, they are so tiny, and any effect on pH will not be a problem as I think I would like to have another species of shell-dweller anyway.
2 Why the whiff of ammonia? I know that fish excrete ammonia, but I would be surprised if there were enough left in the gravel water to be discernible. (I am trying not to think about the possibility of the gravel being left outside, and passing pussycats, which has only just now occurred to me.
) How does one neutralise ammonia to get rid of any traces BEFORE using it in an aquarium?
After all this, I bet you are all going to reply 'chuck it'!
But thanks for your help, anyway!
I recently bought another (!) nice fish tank, second-hand. The seller supplied a plastic box of dryish fine gravel, I did not examine it closely, but it had clearly not been used for a little while.
I decided that I would give it a good clean before starting to set up the aquarium, because I am in no hurry to fill it with fish, and I can give it time to cycle. As everything else (filtration, etc) will be new, I am unconcerned. No fish will be introduced until the water parameters are acceptable.
I started by running tap water over the gravel, and allowing it to spill over the sides of the box. I used a shower head, and water from the cold tap. At this point, I thought I could smell a whiff of ammonia, and wearing latex gloves, I made circular motions with my hands in the gravel. The water above the gravel had been crystal clear and sparkling, but now became brown and cloudy, as might be expected. I also thought the smell of ammonia intensified. As the gravel swirled, I saw that the pebbles sank fairly quickly, but a few small snail shells were still circling in the water, taking longer to sink. The shells are anything from a quarter to three-eights of an inch long, and much longer than they are wide.
Following lengthy rinsing in clear water, the taint of ammonia has gone. replaced by an earthy smell, and if I am going to use the gravel, I will rinse it using a metal sieve and boiling water.
I have a couple of misgivings, though, and would be grateful for advice:
1 Although I have not seen any, I am concerned as to whether some of the shells may contain snail corpses which will pollute the water when the aquarium is set up. I may be worrying unnecessarily, as the shells may be empty as a result of some treatment. I am not worried about them visually, they are so tiny, and any effect on pH will not be a problem as I think I would like to have another species of shell-dweller anyway.
2 Why the whiff of ammonia? I know that fish excrete ammonia, but I would be surprised if there were enough left in the gravel water to be discernible. (I am trying not to think about the possibility of the gravel being left outside, and passing pussycats, which has only just now occurred to me.
) How does one neutralise ammonia to get rid of any traces BEFORE using it in an aquarium?After all this, I bet you are all going to reply 'chuck it'!
But thanks for your help, anyway!
