Help! Need gravel cleaning advice

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HazelRA

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 29, 2019
Messages
3
Location
Kentucky
So, I was recently gifted a 50gal tank along with some used gravel. I finally got the last thing I needed to begin setting up the tank, and when I went to start adding the gravel to the tank, I realized I had forgotten to cover the gravel and my cat decided to use it as litter box... no solids, thankfully (although that might have been easier to deal with). What I'm asking is:

Should I scrap the cat pee-soaked gravel entirely, or will soaking it in vinegar make it safe again? Any and all advice on this is very much appreciated.
 
My first thought was scrap it, but....... after a few minutes that changed to, soak in vinegar, rinse well, soak in peroxide, rinse well, then soak in water with Prime or other water conditioner. If you smell anything repeat. Stirring occasionally ia probably a.good idea
 
Hello Hazel...

Rinse the gravel like you would with new stuff from the store. I typically put new gravel in a five gallon bucket and run tap water over it a couple of times and then, it's ready to go into the tank. If there's anything left after the rinsing, a couple of water changes will clean it up. I'd keep the gravel.

B
 
B would plain water be enough to get rid of the urine? I would think that if it is typical * painted/epoxy coated* aquarium gravel any crack in this coating would let the urine seep in so using something to neutralize that would be necessary
 
Tank Gravel

B would plain water be enough to get rid of the urine? I would think that if it is typical * painted/epoxy coated* aquarium gravel any crack in this coating would let the urine seep in so using something to neutralize that would be necessary

Hello again...

Regular tap water is fine for cleaning. As for the trace of urine (nitrogen), the same stuff that comes from the fish, it would be diluted to next to nothing in all the treated tap water that would fill the tank. When I set up a new tank, I always include some floating plants and allow the tank to run for several days without fish. This settles the water chemistry for the fish. The plants will begin using any nitrogen that could be left in the water, which I'm sure would be very minimal.

B
 
In that case HazelRA you're best to listen to *B* he's pretty much the water guru around here [emoji854]
 
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