Problems with Old gravel

[gomezladdams]

Good one Oddball

And I still dont think its the gravel

 

[Tongue33]

my gravel is starting to grow a brown layer of stuff on it

Problems with Old gravel

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Has anyone set up an older tank with original gravel, then had problems with there Ph? A friend of mine set up a tank he got from someone and used the old gravel but is now having a huge Ph alkline spikes, his fish are dieing like crazy and when he tests his tap water it reads nearly neutral. Doesn't have much in way of decorations, just a few plastic plants and the old gravel. Any thoughts?

For the brown... Bleach it "all of it"let it sit maybe an hour rinse and put it back in the tank add the dechlor..

Same for gravel prob... Cheapest way to star... then cycle with some cheap fish = gold fish, danio... Wait two weeks, the fish should satart living .. whoala your set up.... Treat as if you were starting all over.. Or take a sample of the water to the lfs, they'll test it and give you suggestions...

 

[Stas]

Actually I've had exactly the same problem with unwashed gravel when I moved my 100l (25gal) once. It was a grained basalt gravel in a planted tank. I didn't wash the gravel and it stayed for 2 days in a bucket before I was able to setup the aquarium in the new place. So when I did fill it with water and planted the plants back, not only the pH didn't go down inspite of the CO2 I was injecting, it rised from about 8 in the tap to almost 9 in the aquarium. First I suspected something wrong with the DIY yeast CO2, but after 3 days of 50% water changes each day, it went back to normal pH 7.5. I still don't know exactly what happened, but think it has to do with the massive ammonia release. I had only mollies and bristlenoses at that time, no one died though and there was no ammonia smell.