# Washing Substrate That has Small Grains?



## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

I got the diy co2 mixture in to my ten gallon a week ago. 1/3 of the bottle emptied into the tank and i took everything out so it doesnt die. No i have an empty tank with 20 lbs of eco complete. How do i wash it or get the bad stuff out. I was thinking of letting it sit in my bathroom and do 90%wc daily for like 2 weeks to get it out. Need advice


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## Crispino Ramos (Mar 21, 2008)

Water change should do the job. When I didn't have pressurized CO2, I had the diy and reflux happened. I just did a one time water change and everything were fine.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Yes now i jsut quit on diy, wish i was older and had a job so tht i could get pressurized. it is such a pain cuz i cant grow hc or glosso or any hight tech stuff. Make sme wanna jump of this planted and get back into cichlids. =D love them yellow labs.


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## Crispino Ramos (Mar 21, 2008)

That is exactly some of our club members do, cichlids. You should see this photo album of my friend John (nazrat). Our city water in Phoenix is perfect for cichlids.

http://www.azaquaticplants.com/community/album.php?albumid=5


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Same here our well waters ph is like 7.5 ph plus lots of rocks and then its perfect. =D


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

Vadimshevchuk said:


> I got the diy co2 mixture in to my ten gallon a week ago. 1/3 of the bottle emptied into the tank and i took everything out so it doesnt die. No i have an empty tank with 20 lbs of eco complete. How do i wash it or get the bad stuff out. I was thinking of letting it sit in my bathroom and do 90%wc daily for like 2 weeks to get it out. Need advice


did you make alot or the bottle is too small? It should not happen as I follow the mixture that other people give me and I never put that much water. I put the water just enough to 1/3 of the 2L coke bottle to be safe. The rest should work the way it supposed to even you reduce the water a bit.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Actually the mixture was okay just that the bottle tipped over in my stand. (No idead how?:croc Then it leaked into my tank. Well im into the 3rd water change and it still is pretty bad. The water smells terrible and there are bubbles on the water.


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## El Exorcisto (Aug 10, 2006)

If you want to keep CO2 going and avoid the problem entirely once you get up and dust yourself off, try adding a bubble counter to the system. Run your reactor into another 2-liter with an inch of water in the bottom. Run your tubing from your reactor under the water and it will show you a bubble count outside your tank, especially helpful if you have a diffuser that makes a fine mist or less. Just run a second tube out of your counter into the tank. Guarantees that if you reflux, it lands in the counter and not in your tank.

Now, onto your substrate... Buy a cheap bedsheet and put it out in your driveway. Pull your Eco out and spread it on the sheet, then hose it off. When it looks and smells like new, toss it back in and you're off and running. 

I know what it's like trying when you're broke. It was even harder then (10 years ago), before communities like this one. Keep your head up and keep plugging. Glosso and HC are cute but tremendously overrated in my opinion. Learn how to grow first. Scaping, and the associated nightmarish plants, cannot happen until you can grow the easy ones with boring reliability. That's how we all get started you know. We get bored with growing yet another species of plant, and need something more complex to do with them.


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## alan j t (Oct 22, 2008)

or you could put the contaminated substrate in a 5 gallon bucket and use a hose to rinse it.all the over flow would be the crap you dont want. just swish it around till the smell and color is achieved.


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

Start with the rinse (any number of methods will do) and try a heavy dose of hydrogen peroxide to sterilize the mix, followed by another rinse.

Try the DIY again if it's all you can get. This time, set up an intermediary chamber about 1/2 of the size of your culture bottle as an overflow backup.

-Philosophos


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Thanks Philosophos. I just keep on changing the water every day and it changed it like 7 times and it still smells like rotten eggs. =/



also thanks for some tips (alan j t, El exorcisto) Already tried to gro glosso, no success, ill keep that in mind. =D


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

Hmmm rotten eggs... H2SO4 then? Try heating it up/drying it out perhaps?

-Philosophos


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Well i stuck the the substrate in a 5 gallon and i put the tank in the shower and got it to overflow for a while. The smell is now almost gone and i will probably let it soak overnight and repeat the steps.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Pillow case in a bucket. 
The water from the hose will flow through the pillow case, and you can fill the bucket enough to slosh it around a lot. Then drain and refill, and you will not lose the EC through the pillow case. Bed sheet is the same idea: fine cloth that holds the EC yet allows plenty of water to flow through. 

I have also rinsed substrate right in the tank with a hose that goes outside, and a source of water inside. 
For example, a Rubbermaid Brute garbage can with clean water and a fountain pump is the source, and the water from the tank siphons down to a storage container that has a pump and a garden hose to get the dirty water out to the garden. 
Clean water goes in and you can direct the flow to stir up all the media. Outlet siphon might be wrapped in a thin bit of quilt batting to keep the EC out of it.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Thanks Diana,

After i let it overflow in the shower, i let it stand there with a tank full of water in the garage and this morning, the water doesnt smell or have some film on top. So happy =D ill just let it stand one more week with 50% water changes daily.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Keep stirring it up as much as possible. 
With the hint of 'rotten eggs' I would add a lot of H2O2 with each water change. This is more oxygen than the anaerobic bacteria can tolerate, and it will kill them off. After several days with this discontinue its use, and a few more water changes will remove enough of it not to be a problem when you add the substrate back to a tank. H2O2 decomposed pretty fast, especially if you can expose it to bright light. A small amount is not toxic to the fish or plants.


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## Vadimshevchuk (Jul 5, 2009)

Alright, ill keep that in mind. =D


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