mcub

i'm having trouble with black gravel. i was told to rinse it till the waters clear. but it never got clear so i kept rinsing it. when it finally got a little clear, i put it in the tank. and did it till i filled the 20 gal long. but when i turned the light on. the black gravel was no longer black! it turned to a nasty dingy color. the stuff i was rinsing off was actually the color. i took alot of it out today. but now there is particles floating in the tank.

how much do i need to rinse the gravel before i put it in without it making my water cloudy. or is cloudy normal. please help thanks!

aquarist48

Evening mcub. Anytime you add new gravel, even after being rinsed it's going to cloud some. Give it at least 24 hours to settle and filter, chances are it will be clear. Have fun!
Ken

bolivianbaby

What brand of gravel did you get? We use the Petco brand of black gravel and not only did it rinse clear within two "sessions", but it didn't cloud the tank, either.

When we rinsed it, we did do small handfuls at a time, but it still didn't fade.

aquarist48

Hello mcub...you did get gravel right and not activated carbon that is also black?

harpua2002

Is it TopFin gravel from Petsmart? I didn't have the problem that you are having, initially, but the black color did wear off with time and I was left with gray gravel. Disappointing. I like Estes brand and CaribSea brand, now.

mcub

Yeah, i have the topfin brand. should i just scrap it and get another brand. i would rather deal with it now as opposed to when the tank is running with fish

bolivianbaby

That would be personal preference, but if you do get another brand, the Petco didn't fade and was reasonable to "clean" for the tank.

Butterfly

Some gravel is epoxy coated and the coating comes off of the less expensive brand. I put white in a small tank and after a few water changes had little flecks of white floating around and yucky looking gravel. Since I now like the more natural colors I no longer buy coated gravel .
carol

RussG

A few years ago I tried using black gravel (Estes) and after a month or so black flakes were floating around my tank and the black gravel had white chip all over, I went back to where I got it and they gave me my money back due to Estes having problems with the black and also the blue gravel, so I ended up getting white gravel and all was fine.

gmen4life

i used walmart brand black 30 lbs and 20 lbs or coral for me i always get a white cloud from the coral and it all clears over time after you set up the tank takes like a day or 2 depending on the filtration and all that ine are all crystal clear and at first all look like vacums explode in it lol

bolivianbaby

That coral's a kicker. I've got it in all of my tanks to keep my pH from dropping too low. The only way I know to keep it from being really bad cloudy is small, small handfuls beings rinsed two or three times.

We did it that way when we set up my daughter's african tank and she got NO CLOUDINESS! I was so jealous!

mcub

hey thank you all for the input. i went to petco and got 5 pounds of black. and it is Beautiful! i mixed the Now GRAY gravel with the black and it looks wonderful!! i'll take pictures soon. not sure i'll put it in here because i have a running thread in the betta section with my 20 gal.

Thank you all!

mcub

the Black gravel is from Petco.
the Less than Black gravel. is Black Gravel from TOPFIN. Booo!

aquarist48

Good morning. The top picture looks like it has some gravel off the street doesn't it? Meaning it does look washed out. The bottom picture looks fine though.
Ken

Psychlist1972

That black gravel in the pic looks just like the gravel I got from petsmart. I don't remember the brand, but it turned out dingy gray, with some whitish rocks and even a red rock here and there, and I *still* suck up a lot of black dust whenever I vacuum and it has been in the tank almost a year.

The water never cleared when rinsing. I rinsed my hands raw and finally gave up.

Cheap stuff. I'd never get it again. When I did the 20g tank, I went with natural gravel and had no issues. FOr the 55 I'm setting up now, I'm using sand on one half and then some black "enhanced" gravel for plants (expensive stuff, hope it works)

Pete

harpua2002

I'm calling TopFin again! It looked fantastic when it went in the the tank initially, but was a disappointment later on. I wouldn't recommend it.

rebeccmh

I'm having the same issues with my TopFin gravel. I think I may have already posted in the thread you having going in the Betta section, but anyway in my first tank I used gravel from Petco and it rinsed clean rather quickly and I've never had any issues with it. In my new tank, where I also have black gravel, it never rinsed clean and some chips are already coming off. I'm never getting the TopFin gravel again. I'll either go natural or get it from Petco, but it'll have to do until I ever redecorate in the future.

acidpope

If you're not against sand, Tahitian Moon Sand is a striking black (it's a tad expensive). It won't alter pH either. A nice darker natural gravel is Deep River (I use the Petco brand of this).

Tahitian Moon Sand http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...24&pcatid=7324

Deep River http://www.petco.com/product/107326/...landSubstrates