Aquarium Landscaping

[salmon]

What advice can you give me about using locally found rocks such as slate, granite, and river rocks. Does it need to be treated or washed in a certain way before placing in the tank?

 

[krap101]

if you find it i think the most common ways are treat it with a solution of bleach or boil it. im not certain about the bleach though.

dont have anything about the rocks. im sure the slate'll be okay and the river rocks will probally be okay.

someone else can chip in on those

 

[flipz]

You need to test the rocks. The easiest way this can be done is with vinegar. You pour it on the rock, and if it bubbles the rock is not safe to use in your tank. However if it doesn't bubble, it may still not be safe because vinegar is a very weak acid, and it may have just been too weak to cause a reaction. In this case try using a strong acid, like muriatic acid. If it doesn't bubble with this then you should be perfectly fine.

Also soak it in a very weak bleach solution. Like 2 gals to 4 tbsp bleach. And then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse! And when you think they are clean, rinse MORE!

-brent

 

[krap101]

and dont forget to dechlorinate it

 

[Menagerie]

Tankgirl said slate, granite, and river rocks would be fine in your other thread. To use in your tank, rinse in a very diluted bleach solution--tops one TBPS bleach per gallon. Rinse Rinse Rinse

Have fun!

 

[flipz]

tops one TBPS bleach per gallon

My 4 tbsp to 2 gallons of water came from what you said in a different post about cleaning rocks.

-brent

 

[Menagerie]

Well, I rethought it and decided it could be lower--this was after a long dull conversation with my fiance who used to work in a kitchen and he was going on about how much bleach he used to disinfect things.....
After recovering from boredom (thankfully not all of our conversations are like that ), I adjusted my bleach to water ratio.

 

[TankGirl]

I put mine in the fireplace once, and on the (very large) grill once and baked my rocks. I was very happy with the results, but a weak bleach solution works great too, and if you don't happen to have a roaring fire going, much simpler... I put enough bleach in the water so that I can just smell it after it is mixed in.

 

[salmon]

O.K. so what do I do? Soak the rocks in a bleach solution for ??? long, or wash them with bleach and detergent? What about pouring an acid on them to see if they contain any impurities?

 

[TankGirl]

You can definitely try some muriatic acid, if you can get it easily, as a definitive means to determine if the rock is inert or not.

I would scrub the rocks free of any particles whatsoever, and then soak them in the bleach solution for an hour or so. That ought to do it.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I scrubd mine with HOT water and a scrub brush then put them in bleach and water over night.
Then put them in the tank.
No problems at all.

 

[salmon]

So when I leave the rocks overnight in the bleach do I soak them or wash them a certain way before I put them in the tank?

 

[Menagerie]

My fiance likes to scrub rocks with a finger nail brush, or you can just soak them.
Then, you rinse, rinse, rinse and then rinse some more.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Thats the best way I have found to do it.

 

[TankGirl]

Oh, and don't forget to rinse. (If it is a new tank setup I like to use a little bit more dechlor than normal with the first fill of the tank, just for insurance)