Using creek rock in my aquarium

[MrKickalot]

I just got a great deal on a 110 gallon aquarium. It is 30" tall so I want to terrace the back to make it a little less see thru and give me a good bed for plants. I live close to the river so there are 100's of creeks that I can harvest rocks from. Can I use them in my aquarium? If so how do I clean them first?

Thanks!

Jason

[Full3R]

boil them in hot water for about 10 20 minutes and they should be fine give them abit of scrub to without burning yourself

[Lady Hobbs]

Ohhhhh, you are sooooo lucky. You just have to send pictures when it's complete.

I do an acid test on rocks I find. Put them in water and add some vinegar. If they bubble, don't use them. Then do as Full3R mentioned above.

[turbomkt]

I agree with Carol's recommendation of an acid test, but I wouldn't put them in water. Put them on the sidewalk, driveway, in a bucket, whatever and then pour some vinegar (or stronger acid if you have it) on them. If there's bubbling, don't use the rock.

[Lady Hobbs]

Hey you! So nice to see you back here.

[NorthernBoy]

well i agree and disagree as usual. When you use an acid to test a rock what you are testing for is calcium. Calcium will raise the pH in your tank. If you plan on having any type of cichlid it is exceptable to have some calcium feldspars in the tank. If you want a more neutral pH than you obviously dont want them. Crushed coral, coral in general, and many types of sand have calcium feldspars in them. Limestone is a calcium based mineral as well. If you want substrate w/o calcium you need to by a silicic sand or normal substrate. I add both Limestone and both Ca and Na feldspars to my tanks. I plan on using honeycomb limestone in my mbuna tank.

[turbomkt]

But Jason is looking for something as a good bed for plants. In general, you don't want to buffer the pH in a planted tank any more than needed. Too much calcium and you get into problems between calcium and magnesium uptake in the plants which can affect the growth significantly.

For Jason...
You can clean the rocks in the vinegar, a bleach solution, potassium permangeanate (sp?), etc. Just make sure to rinse it when you're done. Boiling, as mentioned, will help as well.

[stubbytheplecostomus]

i often times buy broken pieces of feildstone from the landscaping place nearby (10 cents a pound) and all i do is rinse the stones well before putting them in the tank, but they do go in african cichlid tanks so i am not concerned about calcium.

[NorthernBoy]

fieldstone is very unlikely to have Ca, where as Feldspars are generally rich in Ca, Na or K. Fieldstones are generally for silicic in nature.

[NorthernBoy]

Ok so I looked around some more. Ca is found in limestone. You really will only get a reaction from from an acid with it and a few other minerals, like chaulk.