Aquarium Safe Rocks...Auquascaping?

[happygirl65]

Hello,
I am here to ask exactly how to tell if my rocks have any toxic minerals. Besides posting pictures here...how else can I tell? Rocks are in abundance here. I know to stay away from the ones with iron in them and can tell them at a glance.

What I have a lot of are flag stone rocks that chip right off the rocks face in large sheets. They are mostly green in color and quite hard. They are not easy to break straight on but will fracture in sheets quite easily.

What I want to do is build a cave/terrace at the back of my tank and coming around the sides a bit. I would be using small and medium pieces of this flaked off flagstone to create a kind of terrace of caves in my aquarium. I would probably use a high speed grinder to smooth the edges so they are not sharp before putting them in.

I read something about pouring a household cleaner on one of the rocks to test and see if it bubbles? But I am assuming this will only tell me if it will eventually dissolve, not whether the rock itself contains minerals that will possibly affect my water quality.

Should I put some in a bucket of water, testing params before and after checking for differences? Is that a good way of telling if they will change the water quality?

My alternative is to buy styrofoam and carve the cave structure... saw someone on here doing a background using that...but my concern is of course painting it and whether that will cause problems, or how to properly seal it, as well as how to keep styrofoam from trying to float away. Seems this member was going to coat the styro with cement afterward...is cement safe? I know he would probalby seal it afterwards, but what would one use to seal it....and could this sealer then be used on any kind of rock to prevent mineral contaminations?

I dont want to be difficult here, I just think it will be a fun project and have a really cool outcome f I can pull it off, plus give my future aquatic buddies lots of hiding places which is always a good thing.

TIA

 

[triazole]

great idea. i think flagstone is inert. but putting it in a bucket, and testing params does help. coating the structure with cement is perfectly safe by itself. but you have to cure the cement in salt water to ensure it doesn't leach chemicals into your tank. the common method is the silicone the styro to your tank to keep it from floating.
for perfect peace of mind, you can seal the cement (or come to think of it, the styro itself) with epoxy (i know west system epoxy works, don't know about the other brands), and spread playsand over it to take out the shine.

 

[Jchillin]

For some good ideas on terracing, check here

 

[newfound77951]

Flagstone is fine for a fishtank. It still needs to be thoroughly scrubbed to remove any dirt, and boiling or baking it will kill any unwanted things like mold or algae.

 

[hc8719]

some try a vinegar test, which i guess does something.

keeping them in a bucket is a good idea, and testing the water afterwards,i cant really imagine something non-detectable in there like lead or like you said 'iron'

some people say to boil to get rid of bacteria

really i think its kinda hard to get bad rocks, when i raise tadpoles, i just grab some rocks from around the lake, with no problems

be sure when you make a cave that the rocks are steady of glued down, alot of fish are stronger than you think

 

[happygirl65]

Cool! I am all excited about my project...I will still test my params just to be sure.

Thanks fellow fish lovers!

 

[severum mama]

happygirl- if you are feeling really gutsy, here's a link to a DIY styrofoam/cement background plan. I've always wanted to try it myself, but I'm not really very handy and I don't have a whole lot of patience! Anyway, for those who can pull it off, it can give your tank a really unique look.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_background.php

If you do this, please post pics of the whole process, I'd love to see! If not, we still want pics of your aquascape.

 

[happygirl65]

severum mama, That styrofoam background is awesome! Wow, thanks for the link. It is a really neat look.

That sort of look was my first inspiration for this.

I have collected a lot of rocks and am soaking/scrubbing them now. I am going to do a few drawings first to get the idea down on paper before I begin. I will be sure to document the entire process so I can post it here when I am finished.

hc8719, Yes I am planning to glue the rocks togehter with silicone and make sure they are secure. I certainly dont want a cave in I am even thinking of using some acrylic pieces as a kind of shelf system that will then be camoflaged by the rocks. That would certainly add stability and give me peace of mind.

I will be sure and post pics of the process when it is complete.

Thanks to all!