Big Problem With Eco-Complete

Guess what reiverix?

Since my last post I decided to do a little experiment with the kh. I took a clean tube and rinsed a few gravel pieces with tap water which I then dried with a towel. I tested the tap without the gravel first and the kh was 0. I opened the tube and added the gravel pieces in the tube and no change. A few minutes later went back into the kitchen and I noticed that the water turned light blue. Boom, 1 KH.

I'm so upset. This stuff is terribly expensive and I lost my receipt just to see if I can get my money back from caribsea. I had my heart set on this substrate only to be dissapointed. Now I probably have to buy some other substrate which means not only did I waste my time coming from Manhattan (took the train) with two heavy bags, but also my money and the big effort it took to transfer everything from my 20 gal to the 29. I don't even know what to think anymore.

Lissette :mad:

Edit: I will do as you suggest to see if the water stabilizes
 
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Might want to check out this thread from another site:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=1328

It's from last May.

Sorry to hear about the problems it's causing you. Some people prefer the look of Eco-Complete over that of Flourite, but performance-wise, they're pretty much the same. I'm actually starting to like the look of Flourite, anyway.

Hope everything works out. If you can wait out a few months of rising pH/KH, ease off on the water changes. Do no more than you normally would. A pH of 7.6 is not going to hurt anything. It's the daily *instability* that does the damage. But if you prefer not to have to deal with this at all, there's always the option of switching to something else. I'm sure you could find somebody to buy the Eco-Complete from you, or you can set up a tank for shrimp or livebearers or something, which prefer alkaline conditions.

-Naomi
 
gnome,

Thanks so much for the link.:bowing: It was very helpful to me. It seems that w9nwr and myself are not the only ones experiencing chemistry changes in the water caused by the eco. Why does caribsea advertise something that they should already know isn't true? I called them last night and left them a message before I read your post. Lets see if they call me back.

I'm going to monitor my fish for a few days to see how they react. If there are no changes in their behavior and their health does not decline over the rising ph, then I'll see if I can stick to the eco and hope that it stabilizes in the next few weeks.

As for water changes, I'll do as you and happychem have suggested and make them weekly so as not to stress my fish out.

Again, thanks for your help.

Lissette ;)
 
Well I hope it works out for you. I've honestly had nothing but good results from eco and I really do like the color. I guess if I was having the same problem I would stick with it also and see if it's correct that the effect is short term. So, in the meantime just keep check your parameters and hopefully you will see a drop off through time.
 
There was a similar thread over at plantedtank forum about this stuff. The person who was having problems contacted Carib Sea, the maker of eco-complete. They admitted that sometimes when the wind is blowing, dust from one of there other products gets blown onto there stock of eco-complete. This would explain why the PH and KH changes only happen to about 20% of users. I don't recall that anybody lost any fish like you did, but the consensus seemed to be that everything stabilized after two to three weeks worth of water changes.
 
You know reiverix, I like this substrate too. Like I said, I had my heart set on having it for my plants. I love the color and the texture. It really brings out the color of my fish and plants. I mixed it with a handful of natural gravel to give it a more natural appearance and so far it looks very appealing. But having the ph swing up and down was not something I counted on. Like I said, I'll stick with it and see if it stabilizes. I'll be checking the water parameters often in the next several weeks.

Karnaaj, I have not had anymore fatalities since the other day. Perhaps it was due to the water changes rather than the eco (most likely, now that the situation is clear). I've always known that the ideal ph for tetras is acidic so naturally, I panicked and made several water changes believing I did something wrong.

I want to say thanks to everyone for your concern and for helping me with this problem. That is why you guys are the best.

God Bless.

Lissette ;)
 
Let's try something.

If you've got an empty 2L or 1g bottle add a handful of your gravel and fill it to 3/4 vinegar. Give it a good shake and let it sit for a few hours, don't be shy to shake it up in the interim. Drain the vinegar but keep the gravel, if you're feeling really keen, repeat this a couple times, but it might not be necessary to do it more than once. Now fill to 3/4 with water, shake and drain. Repeat several times, we want to be sure to get out all the vinegar. Finally fill it back up to 3/4 and test the water. Test again after 6 and 24 hours.

I'm intrigued by this dust blowing explanation, it makes a lot of sense and it means that after a few weeks your tank should settle down and, while you've gone through a little heLL, you haven't wasted money or time.

If it is some carbonaceous dust that blew over, the vinegar should dissolve it fairly readily. It's not a fool-proof experiment, but it's fairly solid given household ingredients. What we hope to see is after rinsing with vinegar, there should be no change to KH. I'm not suggesting this as a solution, merely a diagnostic. If the vinegar clears up the carbonate it means that after a month or so of regular weekly changes your chemistry should settle down and slowly return to tap water values. If not, there's still a chance that this happens because vinegar's not a great acid.
 
Sure, I'm willing to try this experiment with vinegar. I hope that maybe I'll see positive results from it. If not, I'll keep in mind what you said about it not being fool-proof, but at least it's worth a try.

Thanks a lot Happychem. I'll keep you posted.

Lissette ;)
 
Happychem, The 1st Results Are In

I took a 2 litre bottle and did what you instructed with the vinegar. I shook the vinegar 2 or three times and waited a few hours. By the way, I did the vinegar test only once.

I drained the vinegar and made sure to get all of it out with 3/4 cups of water and shaking it up like crazy. I did this many times, just to make sure that the vinegar was gone. Then, when I felt it was okay, I filled it back with 3/4 cups of water, waited a few minutes and tested it. (I'm using the Aqua. Pharm. Kit) The results: ph: 6.0 or lower. My kit doesn't have any lower readings. kh: 0

I will test again in 6 hours.

Lissette
 
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