The Beginning

[katana750]

Recently I bought a used aquarium with everything included. It is 120 gallons. I also kept fifty gallons of the aquarium water. I filled it up with treated tape water over the next month. My tap water is about 7.6. I started testing the tank water and noiticed it kept climbing to 8.2. I tested the rocks with acid and they bubbled madly...about 80 pounds worth. I removed them. Changed some of the water and it climbed back to 8.2. Tested the gravel with acid. Generally good....with one handfull in a glass of acid I would get four of five streams of bubbles. It looks like pet store gravel with a mix between 1mm to 6mm stones. Just for a test I took some of the aquaqium water and put it in a completly empty 10 gallon aquarium with a filter and some tiny yoyo loaches that were too small for the tank. I change 20 percent of the water at least every week and the water always goes back to 8.2.

I would really like to set up a planted tank or learn any way. I am preparing tempory tanks for my other fish. So I can tare down the big tank and start over with a laterite substrate.

My question is would it be worth while to replce all my gravel...with something perfectly neutral or does all gravel...regardless what the bag says contain some undesireable stones. I am going through the effort of starting over and I want the best chance at success.

I have a bunch of other questions, but I think I will start small

My kh 80mg/l
gh is 100mg/l
ph is 8.2

Slightly frustrated

 

[Liam]

One thing you could try is to leave out a sample of tap water for 24 hours, tap water often has a lot of Co2 in it which lowers ph, after a day you would get a more accurate ph result. Lots of plants will grow happily in harder water. If the KH of your water is not going up then you can rule out the gravel.
I guess acid will react with any trace of lime or perhaps other minerals in the gravel. You could try the vinegar test and if the gravel doesn’t react to that it shouldn’t react to your water. An alternative to laterite could be ADA soil Amazonian which lowers ph and softens water. Silica sand is another possibility just ordinary play sand would do.

Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask any more questions.

 

[katana750]

One thing you could try is to leave out a sample of tap water for 24 hours, tap water often has a lot of Co2 in it which lowers ph, after a day you would get a more accurate ph result. Lots of plants will grow happily in harder water. If the KH of your water is not going up then you can rule out the gravel.
I guess acid will react with any trace of lime or perhaps other minerals in the gravel. You could try the vinegar test and if the gravel doesn’t react to that it shouldn’t react to your water. An alternative to laterite could be ADA soil Amazonian which lowers ph and softens water. Silica sand is another possibility just ordinary play sand would do.

Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask any more questions.

Thanks that makes sense I will test both. I have noiticed ADA soil Amazonia mentioned quite often...what is the difference between that and laterite? Does one work better than the other? I live in a small town, I know I can get laterite....ADA soil may be a different story. Sand would be cheaper....but do I have to worry more about it compacting? Is sand more versatle? Does 2-3mm gravel aerate better or does it matter. I might like a dark substrate though and does gravel work with the ADA soil? Do the fish perfer it?

So many questions, but I have tried real plants before and I am tired of dead ones...I just want to do it right this time and have something live past a month.

Advice is greatly appreciated. I have been reading the journals for an exact receipe, but haven't quite found one. I will keep looking. Untill my some what tolerant wife forces me to live with my fish....that may not be bad...for a while anyway.

 

[Liam]

The ADA might be good depending on what fish you want to keep, lower ph hardness with ADA Amazonia etc. It can be used on its own without gravel or sand, I haven’t used it but by all reports its as good a planting substrate as you can use. A plant substrate is going to be a help with plants.

Sand can compact but if the plants are growing the root systems keep it sweet, you can have Malaysian Trumpet snails who burrow through it much like worms in soil, it can also be poked with a chopstick or something to keep it from compacting. I have used laterite but I am not sure how much better it is than gravel or sand for plants. Sand with root tabs or ferts works well for plants. Plants aren’t so difficult, you can start with easy ones in a low-medium light set up.

Hopefully you can live happily with wife, fish and thriving plants

 

[katana750]

The ADA might be good depending on what fish you want to keep, lower ph hardness with ADA Amazonia etc. It can be used on its own without gravel or sand, I haven’t used it but by all reports its as good a planting substrate as you can use. A plant substrate is going to be a help with plants.

Sand can compact but if the plants are growing the root systems keep it sweet, you can have Malaysian Trumpet snails who burrow through it much like worms in soil, it can also be poked with a chopstick or something to keep it from compacting. I have used laterite but I am not sure how much better it is than gravel or sand for plants. Sand with root tabs or ferts works well for plants. Plants aren’t so difficult, you can start with easy ones in a low-medium light set up.

Hopefully you can live happily with wife, fish and thriving plants

That may involve multi tasking.....I have located ADA substrate unfortunately it would require smuggling it across the US border...I may have to give it a pass. Laterite I can acquire with far less dramatics and gun fire. I have been looking at some of the aquariums on this site that use laterite and I would be very satisfied if I could acheive those kinds of results. Right now I am killing java fern and moss....the crypts hang in although are alge covered. So I am starting from the beginning. Healthy Java fern and I will build up from that.

Thanks for the advice