# glass rocks/marbles



## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

i am not a big fan of gravel cuz i think it looks dirty, so i use glass rocks/marbles from michaels. the petsmart lady told me this would be fine...

any thoughts? i have very high pH in my tank and was wondering if they could be contributing?

thanks!

bri


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

do you have any shells in there ?


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

no..just a variety of glass marbles. i know not to put shells in there because they can raise the pH...

bri


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

Have you tested your tank water for pH and than check your tap water for pH. It may just be your tap water's pH. If that was the case than nothing in your tank would be doing it.


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

could be some thing in on the marbels.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Marbles don't alter pH. Too much oxygen contributes to high pH but pH swings will happen anyway.
pH isn't your primary concern but GH(general hardness) and KH(carbonate hardness) are.:wink:


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

um...i dont have a kH tested, but my gH is very soft. i have been taking water in to be tested at petsmart as well and they havent said anything about my kH readings. they just gave me some danios and said that they would help cycle the tank and balance the readings, but i wanted to make sure that nothing i have IN the tank was contributing to high pH. thanks!

bri


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

petsmart told me my water then i tested it myself and there two dif results


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Some rocks like limestones contribute to high pH. Substrates will also contribute to high pH. If you test both with vinegar and if they do fizz violently, don't use them. They clearly indicate that they can raise the pH.
There are many ways of lowering pH but you must monitor that to ensure you're not lowering it beyond the capacity that the fish will not be able to adapt well. Peat, rainwater and bogwoods are a few methods I can mention but make sure that when you use rainwater, it's not coming from industrial areas where pollutants are likely to harbor in the rainwater.
Danios don't balance your water chemistry and neither do other fish.:wink: Don't be too concerned on your pH. Danios are very hardy and will survive the cycling which has many extreme changes.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

I'll have to add that gravel is more natural than the glass marbles. There's no such thing as ultraclean tanks. I'd say you go for gravel rather than marbles. This will also increase their security and the marbles can cause glaring effects on the fish anyway when they reflect to the light.


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## SimplySplendid (Aug 1, 2006)

About how big are the marbles?


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## fishylover! (Aug 22, 2006)

also are the marbels painted at all? perhaps the paint could be contributing and i agree with blue u should ideally be testing your water at home and GH & KH are more important than PH. you can get darker / natural looking gravels which dont show the waste as much.. ( i should know i have white gravel lol  ) also what else is in the tank in the way of decor? ornaments ect?


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

well, they are thumb-nail sized marbles of different colors, but they arent painted. they seem to me to just be colored glass...i have two fake plants and a rock formation, all bought from the aqua dept at lfs. 

if pH isnt that important, howcome everyone makes such a big deal about it? and what about the fish that cant survive in tanks with higher pH? and why dont the people who are supposed to be experts on setting up tanks tell you to check your gH and kh? 

bri


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

what is your ph if you dont have a test kit go to the store but the might not have the best test kit so it might be off by a little.


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## SimplySplendid (Aug 1, 2006)

You really should never use marbles as substrate for an aquarium. Marbles allow leftover food, waste, and debris to become trapped, which can lead to bad water conditions and sick fish. Keep the aquarium's colors simple and natural. Brightly-colored substrate can make the fish shy and less active.


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

these are some not so great pics of my setup...it does look kinda bright through the lens of a camera...but i didnt think it looked too bright to the natural eye....hrm...

bri


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

Hey, I love the decorations, the fake plants almost look real and you have a cool feature/cave in there. I've got to say, the marbles dont look so great. If you like the colorful feater go with blue gravel. But more natural is black. Either would look good, but not marbles.

nick


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## SimplySplendid (Aug 1, 2006)

Well said, Nick


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

thanks guys!

bri


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## fishylover! (Aug 22, 2006)

ph is important to an extent obviously if ur PH was extreme of either end of the scale you would need to do sumthin about it but the reason for this is usually because with extreme ph readings your GH & KH are likely o be a little out there aswell.. correct me if im wrong anyone??

LFS usually wont tell u these kinds of things either because they dont know themselves.... or they want to get u to buy as many things as possible including wasting time & money on PH up & PH down water treatments which usually cause more problems than they solve....


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

girlofgod said:


> if pH isnt that important, howcome everyone makes such a big deal about it? and what about the fish that cant survive in tanks with higher pH? and why dont the people who are supposed to be experts on setting up tanks tell you to check your gH and kh?


Ok, so rather than saying "not important", pH is the "least important".:wink: KH and GH will easily influence the pH. If your KH is below 3, then chances are adding CO2 or anything to soften the water will lead to pH crash which can harm or kill your fish.
Raising KH is by means of sodium bicarbonate, oyster shell filtration, etc. Lowering it is through peat although RO water and other means can be used.


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## Oceane (Aug 4, 2006)

I love your rock formation 8) If you are keen on the marble why not use black gravel a only a few of the marble pieces?


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

well, my water has really high ph and alkalinity, but its also testing very soft. i havent tested for ammonia, i couldnt find a kit, but my nitrates/nitrites are testing at 0.

i also couldnt find a kit to test kh. will the lfs test this?

bri


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

If your nitrite is at 0, than your ammonia is at 0 most likely. But, I see your nitrate is @ 0 too. That means you are in about stage 2 of cycling. The bacteria has killed off the nitrite and the ammonia, but hasnt turned into nitrate yet. I would keep a close eye on your fish and watch for _'fishy'_ behavior...I wouldnt be surprised if you lose a couple fish. also keep doing daily testing and posting your results if you would like any help. Hope everything works out  

Nick


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

well...i took my water in and had it tested today, and was told that my levels are all ok, that my ph is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.4 and my alkalinity is 180, and testing 0 for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. apparently the test strips i have dont work because i get the same reading everytime i use them...so irritating...im glad i wasted 10 dollars on them....*sighs*

bri


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

If there the common strips that you have to wait 60 seconds and than check them on the bottle. I'm doubting you wasted your money because the water results just probably didnt change. And it seems like you are in stage 2 of the cycling like I said before. Keep a close eye 

Nick


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

well howcome the petsmart gives me different readings than the ones that i get at home?


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

Hmmm that is weird than. I would recommend get the Master test kit which tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and gH or kH. Test for most of the main things you need. And its accurate when done the correct way...


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

girlofgod said:


> well...i took my water in and had it tested today, and was told that my levels are all ok, that my ph is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.4 and my alkalinity is 180, and testing 0 for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. apparently the test strips i have dont work because i get the same reading everytime i use them...so irritating...im glad i wasted 10 dollars on them....*sighs*


Don't let the lfs get away with comments like "They's fine". Insist to them to post the exact figures. With zero nitrates though, you may consider adding potassium nitrates but keep an eye on it to make sure you're not adding too much. Zero nitrates may increase the chances of blue-green algae(BGA) which is toxic to the fish when eaten as far as I know.


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

can yall take a look at my "cycling" thread and answer some q's i have on that topic? thanks!

bri


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Hi girlofgod,
Where's the link of that thread? I may have missed it.
Pls try to post it here so I can read it.
Thanks.


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## girlofgod (Aug 22, 2006)

sure ..here it is! 

http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=396

thanks! ^_^

bri


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## Tracy (Aug 4, 2006)

A nice idea, that is just as pretty (if you don't like natural coloured gravel), is to use mainly black gravel, with handful of blue or green gravel mixed in.


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