creekbottom Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I have a 5 gallon tank, it's planted with alot of crypts. Using exo-terra black desert sand and lace rock. It's in my journal. Water parameters are unstable to say the least. The pH has been consistently high, and pond snails are the only thing that will live. I tested water tonight: pH - 8.8 that is as high as the API test kit goes ammonia - 0 nitirites - 0 nitrates - 0-5 gH - 12 kH - 6 As an experiment I have some lace rock sitting in water in a seperate container and have been testing that for about a week. pH started at 7.8 and has fallen to 7.5 and is staying there. kH started at 7 and has risen to 12 so far gH started at 11 and has risen to 14 so far. And there is a pretty nasty smell coming from that container! I'm going to throw some sand in a container and start the same experiment. These numbers make no sense to me, why one tank is so high and the lace rock is consistent even though the kH is rising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzalcoatl Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Something is rotten in your tank, a piece of wood? dead plants? This is my guess because of the smell bacteria produce when they are in action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Oh, let me clarify. The tank smells fine, the experimental container with the lace rock in it smells bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jro Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Lace rock is porous. A pretty common problem with it is fungus growing inside of it. White stringy fungus that stinks like dead beach. Is that the smell you are describing? This sometimes happens if the rock was used in a saltwater tank at some point. A good solution I found was to bake the rock. 375-400F for about an hour. Other people have had success bleaching the rock overnight then neutralizing the bleach in a 1 : 16 vinegar solution. I personally have never had problems with lace rock but if you can eliminate the rock as being your problem, you can focus on something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Yup, that sounds like the smell. Although the 5 gallon doesn't stink. I am thinking that the black sand is not the problem as other people have used it. But I'm testing that too now. Will lace rock increase kH like say limestone would? Or is it more or less inert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jro Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 You learn something new everyday. http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/lace-rock-gh-kh-follow-up-25795/ 3rd post down. Apparently Lace rock is a trade name and depending on where you buy it, it could have different qualities. Jro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiphany Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 A good solution I found was to bake the rock. 375-400F for about an hour. If you're going to do this make sure there's absolutely no water left inside the rock, as rocks with water in them can explode when heated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted August 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2012 Jro, thanks for that. I'm pretty sure that is the problem in this tank. My little experiment is running and the sand container is staying stable. The 'lace rock' container keeps climbing. kH and gH are climbing and the pH is following. At least I won't have to remove the sand from the tank, just the rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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