Substrate affecting water quality?

[Fruju]

Wanting to change my substrate in my tank, however, not looking to buy regular pink/blue/green stuff

Was wondering if there are certain substrates which contain substances that would have a negative effect on my tank + fish? eg: would Iron with its ferric oxide compound adjust the ph etc? or release harmful things?

[Caryl]

Yes there are. Do you plan to buy a commercial aquarium substrate?

[Fruju]

Not sure, looking a relatively darkish sandy substrate, not expensive cos I have to fill a 6ftr :roll: don't mind the source, just commercial aquarium gravel tends to be overpriced a bit IMO

[phoenix44]

daltons?

[snookie]

building sand , about $5 from bunnings etc..

[Jagman]

Mitre 10 have sand as well or a near by river. Just make sure you wash them really well. If using river sand I would also boil it up as well. I'm over cautious however, a bit daunting to do to fill a 6 footer. Good luck.

Giles

[Stella]

All of my substrates come straight out of the nearest stream and look wonderfully natural.

The easiest way to rinse that much gravel is to put it straight into the aquarium and put the hose in at one end. Use your gravel vacuum to suck the water and cloudiness out. Better still, if you have two hoses, remove the tube from your gravel vac, heat the end of the hose up in hot water and jam it onto your vac and siphon straight down the drain - no bucket-lugging. You will easily see when it is clean.

I don't see why you would want to boil it. People seem to have this absolute terror of anything getting into the tank. Most parasites and diseases enter your aquarium on un-quarantined *fish*, and various bacteria and algae are in the water anyway.

Boiling gravel would really only achieve warming up some rocks.

However if you live in an area with didymo (or even NEAR a region with didymo), spread the gravel out under the sun to dry, and when completely dry leave it for two days. Sorted 8)

[Fruju]

Will probably buy the gravel rather than collect,

building sand , about $5 from bunnings etc..

Have you used this snookie?

Tank is already occupied so all washing to be done in a large bin

Was also wanting an answer as to whether materials like Iron would change water chemistry?

[snookie]

i am still using it 8)

[Fruju]

pic?...pretty please

[David R]

I've also got bunnings builders sand in my tank;

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/ ... Medium.jpg

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/ ... 3Large.jpg

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/ ... 0Large.jpg

Not very dark though. I've got a couple of sacks worth of that dark grey grit stuff you can get from HFF or Stone and Water World, going cheap, need it out of the garage...

[Fruju]

I probably want to go a little bit darker to be honest, main goal is to bring out different colours in the bichirs and Jardini, but I like the consistency.

[Nymox]

Daltons propagating mix, $10 for a 20kg bag at the warehouse. It took me 2 to fill my 8ft.

[A-town...]

All of my substrates come straight out of the nearest stream and look wonderfully natural.

is this legal? just have always wondered when people take river rocks from local streams and rivers. do you boil all the stuff you collect?thanks

[Fruju]

Daltons propagating mix, $10 for a 20kg bag at the warehouse. It took me 2 to fill my 8ft.

Photos of it? Please.

[henward]

use silica sand, inert and non reactive.

looks goodalso brightens the tank.

light reflects from it and makes the tank double bright!

i use silica in all my tanks, love the look!

but maybe not the best for plants? dont nkow, my plnts have slowed in growth after transferring from seachem fluorite pots to the sand substrate.

but maybe roots need to re establish.

[Nymox]

Photos of it? Please.

[Rob]

Wanting to change my substrate in my tank, however, not looking to buy regular pink/blue/green stuff

Was wondering if there are certain substrates which contain substances that would have a negative effect on my tank + fish? eg: would Iron with its ferric oxide compound adjust the ph etc? or release harmful things?

I don't definitely know about iron oxides affecting pH but my suspicion is probably not, considering many people often use laterite (or iron rich clays) as a sublayer in their planted tanks.

You would need to be careful about gravels/sands that contain high proportions of limestone or other calcium carbonate containing materials as they will tend to increase the pH. My suggestion, if you're unsure, would be to get a sample, rinse it well, and then store it in a container of tank water and see if the pH of the water increases (probably checking over the course of a couple of weeks).

[Fruju]

Thanks for the pics.

I may just explore the options around various outlets for the colour I want.

@Rob

I was under the impression that iron was ok as well, in terms of limestone and stuff I would probably not go towards that anyway, in regards to colour and strength of the rock, limestone chips would not look good IMO. I guess most things are ok, stuff like silica is fairly inert as well as regular river substrate, probably run more risk with sedimentary rock types which consist of multiple materials.

[Rob]

Yeah I doubt many (other than those keeping Rift Lake cichlids) would have much limestone (and then probably not as lime chips unless in a filter). It's just that river pebbles can have a mix in them, many of which are pretty inert but possibly still with some components that would increase the pH. I remember getting some rocks from a stream on my parents farm and using them in a tank - pH started to rise. More investigation and I found out the rocks were greywacke, which contains calcite (a from of calcium carbonate). If I'd done the 'drops of vinegar on rock' test to see if it fizzed I probably could have avoided that.