There is bleach in my tank

[emjay8]

75gal Freshwater, community tank

I've had a problem with black algae growing on the gravel. (Actually I encourage it to grow on the petrified wood, and it spreads to the gravel). I've been just swooshing the gravel around, burrying the algae gravel to die until I need to repeat.

Then I decided to just take the top layer of gravel out and soak it in bleach overnight. This morning I rinsed it about 10,000 times and put it back in the tank.

Now I notice a chlorine-like smell when I put my nose to the water. Not nearly as strong as a swimming pool, but there is definitely bleach in the tank. That was several hours ago and the fish seem to be fine.

What do you guys think? Daily water changes? What % can I safely change on a daily basis?

[gm72]

There are several problems with this.

First of all, black algae will only grow if you have an over-abundance of light hitting the tank.
Secondly, there are only a few fish that will eat the algae, so it is a total mystery as to why you would encourage growth of the algae.
Third, if you are smelling bleach, you have bleach. Why in the world would you try to take care of algae in such a manner?

[emjay8]

There are several problems with this.

First of all, black algae will only grow if you have an over-abundance of light hitting the tank.
Secondly, there are only a few fish that will eat the algae, so it is a total mystery as to why you would encourage growth of the algae.
Third, if you are smelling bleach, you have bleach. Why in the world would you try to take care of algae in such a manner?

I encourage the growth because I actually like the natural look on the large rocks. What I don't like is it covering the floor of the tank. Since I can't have it both ways, I just let it grow out of control and like I say just stir up the bottom gravel once a week or so.

This has worked fine for me, but the gravel had started to darken up from this and the purpose of the bleach was to lighten some of it to offset this.

[Lady Hobbs]

Cleaning your gravel in bleach kills all the bacteria growing in it. I hope you rinsed it in dechlorinated water to remove the bleach? If you're smelling bleach you need to add some dechlorinator.

[zackish]

I don't know what to say other than I hope your fish stay fine. Chlorine/bleach is something that is really hard to get rid of.

[RobbieG]

Cleaning your gravel in bleach kills all the bacteria growing in it. I hope you rinsed it in dechlorinated water to remove the bleach? If you're smelling bleach you need to add some dechlorinator.

I second that!

[gm72]

This entire plan is a bad one. Adding caustic chemicals to an active aquarium is a horrible idea. Lucky you haven't lost fish due to this.

[RobbieG]

I grow moss on driftwood - it adds a little something to it without the problems the algae may have caused you.

[emjay8]

I did about a 30% water change. The smell is still there, but better than before. The fish seem fine.

You can recharge ammonia chips using bleach, so I wasn't totally freaking out. The amount of gravel I did this to would have probably filled a medium McDonalds cup. My method of rinsing it was putting it in a bucket and blasting it with the hose to move the gravel around and then letting the water flow over the top. I did this for about 10 minutes, and it still obviously wasn't good enough. Of course I did let it soak in the bleach overnight, so that may have been the problem.

After the water change, it smells pretty much like the Dolphin pool at a zoo. I'll get the dechlorinator tomorrow.

[zackish]

Depending on what kind of gravel you hav and what kind of filtration I have I would say get all new gravel.
The reason I say that is because if you have just regular gravel in there it's probably pretty cheap. If you ahve a planted gravel in there you may not want to spend the money.
Also, I say it depends on the filtration because if you have a big filter with a lot of bilogical space then it should be fine if you change the gravel. However, if you change the gravel and have poor filtration you will kill off an abundance of your beneficial bacteria. I am not sure how much you already killed bleaching your tank but I am sure there is still a lot there in what you didn't remove.

[Lady Hobbs]

You could have let it air dry outside for a day or two which would have removed the bleach. Chlorine in the tap water also depletes when it's allowed to sit several hours. People clean their wood, decorations and plastic plants in bleach but either allow it to air dry or let it soak in dechlorinated water for awhile afterwards and use a mild solution of bleach to start with.

By the time you get the dechlorinator it will probably already be gone but the fact that you smelled it in the water is of concern because it meant it still contained quite a bit of bleach still.

You did rinse it well plus did a water change so you're probably OK. "fingers crossed."

[NorthernBoy]

Whoa people-

While this is a mistake to rinse in bleach I believe it is a common mistake and is by no means a reason to get new gravel, add more or different chemicals, or cut a switch and beat yourself silly. These are a couple of things I think should be considered...

1) When using bleach to clean anything related to an aquarium you should be using amounts like one capful of bleach to 5 gallons of water. You are looking for about a 1 to 10,000,000 ratio. That is all you need. You than should allow the device or what ever to air dry.

2) Do you have a test kit? If not BUY ONE. The moment you smelled chlorine you should be testing. You can buy several chemicals to control this but you are playing a game of "whack a mole" if you aren't sure this is the problem. I like the complete kits...you can find them on ebay for a good deal or at the LFS for about $40-$50.

3) Test your water for phosphates in your water. This can be a contributer to black and brown algae. If you find it is high, you can either buy chemicals to treat (bad idea if you ask me) or buy RO water (best idea if you as me). Your tap water can be a contributer of phosphate as can over feeding, dead plants, etc.

4) Most IMPORTANT! Don't get discouraged. We all have made mistakes. That's how we learn. Eventually you will be a pro and will be glad to have made these mistakes now rather than with a 200 gallon salt water tank.

Keep You Head Up! Asking for help is a sure sign of a caring fish keeper.