limestone in my tank? also question about my new driftwood.

[Swifterz]

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i collected these and have identified them to be limestone. i know this can raise the pH of the water slightly over time. i have bala sharks, 1 rainbow shark and 2 pink gouramis.

bala sharks like the range from 5.8 to 7.8
gouramis like it from 6.5 to 8.5
rainbow sharks like it from 6 to 8

would this be ok? i know they same limestone is good for cichlid tanks because they like higher ph levels.

also, i bought some driftwood mounted on slate from the LFS. the guy told me that it will release the tannis and that this is potentially harmful to my fish? it can possibly lower the pH of my water.

he said all the wood is different, and to put it in a bucket of water for a couple hours and if the water stays clear it is fine for immediate use. the piece i bought is particularly smooth.

here's my delimma. going on vacation for 7 or 8 days tomorrow. i will have people feeding the fish but that's it. otherwise they will be on their own. i have ZERO decor or cover in there right now. i took everything out to purchase some rocks from the store, but they are so freaking expensive!! my rainbow shark is highly territorial. right now he is in 100% open water with the other fish and is chasing them on occasion. he needs his own spot.

if i just go on vacation without putting any of the wood or rocks in there, i worry that the rainbow shark will stress out or harm the other fish. he's never bothered anything before but he's always had his own spot. on the contrary, if i put the wood and/or rocks in there i'm going to be away from home for a week, and the fish could be affected by putting them in there.

is it possible the rocks slowly raising the ph and the wood slowly lowering the ph could offset eachother? what to do?

[Little Embers]

i collected these and have identified them to be limestone. i know this can raise the pH of the water slightly over time. i have bala sharks, 1 rainbow shark and 2 pink gouramis.

bala sharks like the range from 5.8 to 7.8
gouramis like it from 6.5 to 8.5
rainbow sharks like it from 6 to 8

would this be ok? i know they same limestone is good for cichlid tanks because they like higher ph levels.?
Could you tell us what your current PH reading is?....If it is normally on the higher side, the limestone may increase it too much over time and vice versa with the driftwood. It can also depend on how good the buffer capacity of your water is, which is what keeps the water chemistry from fluctuating.

also, i bought some driftwood mounted on slate from the LFS. the guy told me that it will release the tannins and that this is potentially harmful to my fish? it can possibly lower the pH of my water.
Driftwood does release tannins (which turn the water a tea colour), if it is the tannins he is referring too, these tannins DO NOT harm fish in any way. It can lower PH (many people use it for this reason), but it happens gradually.

he said all the wood is different, and to put it in a bucket of water for a couple hours and if the water stays clear it is fine for immediate use. the piece i bought is particularly smooth.
There are different types of driftwood, often the whiter driftwood may not release much tannin compared to the brown. The best way IMO is to boil the wood (depending on how big a piece it is) a few times during the course of a day and then soak it for a couple more days if necessary and when the water remains clear then put it in the tank (some people like the look of the tea coloured water though). Boiling draws the tannins out of the wood quicker than just soaking) and also kills any bacteria/parasites that may be on it just in case.

here's my delimma. going on vacation for 7 or 8 days tomorrow. i will have people feeding the fish but that's it. otherwise they will be on their own. i have ZERO decor or cover in there right now. i took everything out to purchase some rocks from the store, but they are so freaking expensive!! my rainbow shark is highly territorial. right now he is in 100% open water with the other fish and is chasing them on occasion. he needs his own spot.

if i just go on vacation without putting any of the wood or rocks in there, i worry that the rainbow shark will stress out or harm the other fish. he's never bothered anything before but he's always had his own spot. on the contrary, if i put the wood and/or rocks in there i'm going to be away from home for a week, and the fish could be affected by putting them in there.
Do you still have some of the old decor? You could put some of that back in perhaps. I do think it would be better for them to have places to hide if necessary and having some decor makes them feel safer and provides protection for them at night.

is it possible the rocks slowly raising the ph and the wood slowly lowering the ph could offset eachother? what to do
I don’t really know if the limestone and driftwood would counter balance each other, it may depend on how big the rocks will be in contrast to the size of the driftwood and how quickly one or the other affects the PH first....it usually happens gradually but you may get fluctuations, so I would be wanting to keep track of the readings if it were me.

BTW! I hope you have a lovely vacation.:ssmile:

[Swifterz]

i talked with several friends i have who have been keeping tanks for years and i trust what they have to say about it.

they said any raising or lowering of the pH levels that the rocks or driftwood would do would be gradual, and it wouldn't harm anything within a week.

i did not boil the driftwood, but i soaked it in water for about 6 hours and the water was still 100% crystal clear. i went ahead and put everything in there. this morning the fish were acting happy/healthy and the water still still 100% cyrstal clear. there must not have been much, if any tannis in the driftwood. it has a very smooth texture.

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i think it looks great, but just to be safe and having concerns about using the limestone long term, i ordered some slate rocks off of ebay... [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

they should arrive about the time i get back from my trip, and i will swap them in in place of the limestone. i really like having a lot more open water for the fish to be active and swim around in. before i had a lot of smaller fish with tons of plants. i just realized though that i forgot to use my little hairgrass foreground plants for the new look.

i also want to change my substrate to either a more natural color rocks, or maybe even sand. not sure on that yet but a change will be made.

[Algenco]

as long as you do weekly WC of 40% or more the limestone shouldn't be a problem

[Swifterz]

as long as you do weekly WC of 40% or more the limestone shouldn't be a problem

i did a water change right before it went in there last night. i won't be able to do another for about 8 days but that should be ok.

[Fishesses]

I am no kind of rock hound. No way. No how. Those rocks though, the way they are gray with white on the ridges, that looks just like slag. Slag is not a rock but a byproduct of metal smelting. It often contains limestone that was used in the process. The exact make up of slag depends on what kind of metal was being smelted. Slag is quite often used to bed railroad tracks. It's those gray 'rocks' called railroad rocks. I can't say what you have is slag, just that it looks like it. Look at some railroad track bedding and compare. Slag is also used as a fertilizer due to it's phosphate content.

If it is slag, I have no idea on if it's good, bad or indifferent for aquarium use.

Our 55g fresh water tank has 3 pieces of limestone ranging from fist sized to near twice that size. Our pH has ranged from 7.0 to ~8.0. Of course, our tap water is 8.5. Limestone is naturally occurring in our water sources and it's not uncommon to find it while digging in our yards or in every rock garden or rock border or rock wall or laying around the side of the road or... well, you see what I mean.

Anyway, I'm just saying. :kermit:

[Wild Turkey]

Something that leaches phosphate will contribute to algae growth most likely.

[Algenco]

I am no kind of rock hound. No way. No how. Those rocks though, the way they are gray with white on the ridges, that looks just like slag. Slag is not a rock but a byproduct of metal smelting. It often contains limestone that was used in the process. The exact make up of slag depends on what kind of metal was being smelted. Slag is quite often used to bed railroad tracks. It's those gray 'rocks' called railroad rocks. I can't say what you have is slag, just that it looks like it. Look at some railroad track bedding and compare. Slag is also used as a fertilizer due to it's phosphate content.

If it is slag, I have no idea on if it's good, bad or indifferent for aquarium use.

Our 55g fresh water tank has 3 pieces of limestone ranging from fist sized to near twice that size. Our pH has ranged from 7.0 to ~8.0. Of course, our tap water is 8.5. Limestone is naturally occurring in our water sources and it's not uncommon to find it while digging in our yards or in every rock garden or rock border or rock wall or laying around the side of the road or... well, you see what I mean.

Anyway, I'm just saying. :kermit:


they are good old high quality Kentucky Limestone thumbs2:

[Commodore 64]

Just want to go on record as saying those rocks look absolutely nothing like slag and are textbook kentucky limestone as Algenco said.

[Northernguy]

Here is a pic of some old fashioned Sudbury Ontario slag!

[Swifterz]

the rocks were found very, very near a railroad track...

[Northernguy]

I wouldn't use them if they were part of the rail road.They have dumped some nasty stuff on those rocks over the years.
Take a walk along a river or a lake,you will find plenty of beauties there!

[Swifterz]

I wouldn't use them if they were part of the rail road.They have dumped some nasty stuff on those rocks over the years.
Take a walk along a river or a lake,you will find plenty of beauties there!

they weren't part of the railroad. they aren't far from the tracks though. like 200 yards or so.

they are in there for now and there isn't anything i can do about it for almost a week. i'm on vacation in south carolina. the slate rocks will be going in when i get back.

i've also found some awesome sandstone rocks here to bring back. at least i think they are sandstone. they look like this...

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"Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock made up mainly of sand-size (1/16 to 2 millimeter diameter) weathering debris. Environments where large amounts of sand can accumulate include beaches, deserts, flood plains and deltas. The specimen shown above is about two inches (five centimeters) across."

that's gotta be it right? the ones i am fining are right on the beach an look just like that.

[Fishesses]

What Swifterz has there probably is limestone.

What's important to note though is that not all slag is brown, reddish brown or black and not all limestone is gray.

[Commodore 64]

the rocks were found very, very near a railroad track...

That's because limestone is often used as an aggregate, rip-rap, or basecourse for a railroad when it is in plentiful supply and locally available, which, in your case, it is. There's no vessicles or air bubbles in that rock. It ain't slag.