Urgent Gravel Question!

[pimp4cheddar]

Hi All,

I was going to go Fresh Water...so I started putting Blue Rock in my tank (nothing special...just the regular Wal-Mart Rock)...

However, I decided to go Salt Water before putting any fish into the tank...I mixed the salt with the water and then added Crushed Coral ON TOP of the Blue Rock from Wal-Mart...is this bad?

Should I have gotten rid of the blue rock? The only reason I kept it is because I spend like $18 on it and couldn't find the receipt...so I didn't want it to go to waste...

The tank has been running for 2 days and the water is clearing up a bit...but I'm scared...I heard someone say it's bad to leave that rock in the tank...please help.


Thanks,

 

[ox5477]

Ok, first off, few things to look at before we worry about the rock... when you say you mixed the salt... did you use the tap water? Did you use a calibrated measuring device to verify salinity or did you just dump in xx cups of salt into xx gallons of water to make 1.0xx salinty?

The blue rock will add space at the bottom of the crushed coral to collect detritus... ie not good... neither really is crushed coral. Most marine enthusiasts go with sand or BB (Barebottom) because they are much easier to keep clean. Crushed coral acts as gravel would and allows detritus and excess food collect in the substrate... some still use large grain substrate though

Ox

 

[pimp4cheddar]

Ok, first off, few things to look at before we worry about the rock... when you say you mixed the salt... did you use the tap water? Did you use a calibrated measuring device to verify salinity or did you just dump in xx cups of salt into xx gallons of water to make 1.0xx salinty?

The blue rock will add space at the bottom of the crushed coral to collect detritus... ie not good... neither really is crushed coral. Most marine enthusiasts go with sand or BB (Barebottom) because they are much easier to keep clean. Crushed coral acts as gravel would and allows detritus and excess food collect in the substrate... some still use large grain substrate though

Ox

I brought a Hydrometer...and measured the salinty and also used Purified water...and also added declorinator...

The water is good to go...it was just the rock that had me concerned...

Please give more info...thanks,

 

[ox5477]

well it prob gonna be better in the long run to either use sand or just go barebottom, the gravel/crushed coral will collect detritus and waste and just more of a PITA than you need IMO.... but as I said, just my opinion

Ox

 

[pimp4cheddar]

So how would I keep the amount of detritus low?

Water changes only remove surface water and add new water...right?

 

[ox5477]

yep, if you want to use the gravel/crushed coral, then you would use a gravel vac during your normal wc's to suck the baddies from the substrate

This is an example from Python of a gravel vac: Python

It has a larger diameter piece at the end to allow the small, lightweight particles to be sucked up while most of the gravel/crushed coral will be too heavy to be pulled up.

With sand or a bb, you can use just a single piece of a single dimater tubing to suck the "gunk" off the surface of the glass or sand...

Ox