What happens if you don't wash aquarium gravel?
Léon Rey
2025-08-09 09:13:22
Nombre de réponses
: 17
Cleaning new aquarium gravel properly is an important first step in keeping water quality high, gravel dust and residue can harm or even kill fish.
Even though new aquarium gravel may be marketed as “pre-rinsed” or “pre-cleaned” by manufacturers, bags of new aquarium gravel often contain dust, debris, grit or poisonous residue from the factory where it was packaged.
These small particles should not make their way into a freshwater aquarium environment.
Fish Keepers often think these small particles causing temporarily cloudy water can be removed by an aquarium filter.
This is partially true, however, much of the "dust" settles to the bottom of the tank, only to be stirred up whenever the gravel is disturbed.
Improperly cleaned gravel is one of the major hidden causes of slightly cloudy water in newer aquariums.
The dye used in cheap gravel available at a low cost can discolor tank water as well as introduce poisons to your fish community.
Having colored tank gravel could be your choice, but unless it is completely cleaned, it can be a long term danger to many fish.
Even after this process, you may have some clouding of the water, this is normal and the dust will settle.
Using new gravel is another reason not to put fish in a new aquarium until it has been filled with water and filter allowed to circulate the water for at least a week.
Josette Martinez
2025-08-09 07:05:00
Nombre de réponses
: 18
Most likely nothing will happen, the reason for washing the sand is to get rid of the dust.
But if you make your own sand/gravel, it is very important to clean it to get rid of bacteria and organic waste.
Gravel/sand that has been used before or comes with a used tank needs to be cleaned and sterilized to avoid any diseases in your tank.
As trond points out, the dust is the only real problem you get from non-rinsed sand.
However, be aware that all of this dust has to go somewhere.
Once your tank has cleared up you'll want check your filter to ensure that the dust isn't clogging it.
Most likely, the sponges or filter pads in your filter will have a lot of the dust stuck inside them.
Due to the fact the dust is extremely fine, it can really limit flow rate.
Whilst I'm sure you'd pick this up at your monthly filter maintenance, it's definitely worth checking a day or so after you've put in the new substrate just to head off any potential issues.
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