Outdoor rocks. Safe?

[littlefish4]

If I take rocks from my backyard, put them in boiling water, and then my aquarium. Will that cause any issues?

 

[Nils]

If you clean them off you should be good. There's a simple test you can do to determine if their safe or not, all you do is put a couple drops of vinegar on the rock and if it bubbles it's not safe and if there is no reaction you're good to go. You'll want to avoid limestone. Just messes with pH.

 

[littlefish4]

If you clean them off you should be good. There's a simple test you can do to determine if their safe or not, all you do is put a couple drops of vinegar on the rock and if it bubbles it's not safe and if there is no reaction you're good to go. You'll want to avoid limestone. Just messes with pH.

Awesome. Thanks for the help!

 

[Toad]

Don't boil rocks, they can explode, just rinse and scrub with hot water and you're good

 

[Autumnsky]

What / where outside rocks.

Ant, wasp, bugs grass weed and feed spray for trees leaves, bushes, plants poisons & killers. Highly toxic stuff in a fish tank. So think about where it is and who has taken care around it and what could have gotten in it. Similar if after a flood (especially DW) - gas and oil and other toxics anything with industry, farm and agriculture, household waste can be washed through and be on your stuff.

Be careful. Clean well - I love baking soda and vinegar! So much fun. Rinse all, many times.

 

[jfran]

I have a number of huge quartz rocks found in my backyard/woods behind my yard. They are beautiful and safe once washed but one warning I have heard is this: some rocks have metal deposits in veins in the rock. Occasionally these heavy metals can seep into the water. So just be careful in your choice of rock. Look for any especially large veins (I say large because all quartz for instance has small veins). Wash well.


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[Autumnsky]

I have a number of huge quartz rocks found in my backyard/woods behind my yard. They are beautiful and safe once washed but one warning I have heard is this: some rocks have metal deposits in veins in the rock. Occasionally these heavy metals can seep into the water. So just be careful in your choice of rock. Look for any especially large veins (I say large because all quartz for instance has small veins). Wash well.


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Good point as Quartz will often have silver in it around the mountains (here) old time miners look for quartz to find silver and often Gold.

 

[Laeris]

And don't use it if vinegar bubbles on it after it's been rinsed


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[Mebbid]

And don't use it if vinegar bubbles on it after it's been rinsed


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Bubbling is just a sign that there's calcium in the rock. It's not even necessarily unsafe to use, just that it will have some effect on increasing pH.

 

[Laeris]

The problem with a cockup is you never know at the start how large it's going to be.


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[Mebbid]

The problem with a cockup is you never know at the start how large it's going to be.


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True, but the effect maxes out at the low 8s in pH.

 

[littlefish4]

W

These are the ones I grabbed (they were under my deck) it's been 3 days and I've had no problems so far.

 

[Autumnsky]

If you use Prime or other water conditioner which takes care of heavy metals you can feel like there is a little space for error as it will help with possible tiny amounts.


For the actual rocks, top one is probably fine, the bottom one I don't know with the grey, that is a pretty rock.

A tip for scaping land or tanks is to settle the stones into the substrate as they will look like they have been there over time and the substrate has erroded away rather than dropped on top. Settle them down in and then pick up a little handful of substrate and sprinkle around over top and then fine tune where they landed so it looks more like nature.

Glad its coming along!

 

[littlefish4]

If you use Prime or other water conditioner which takes care of heavy metals you can feel like there is a little space for error as it will help with possible tiny amounts.


For the actual rocks, top one is probably fine, the bottom one I don't know with the grey, that is a pretty rock.

A tip for scaping land or tanks is to settle the stones into the substrate as they will look like they have been there over time and the substrate has erroded away rather than dropped on top. Settle them down in and then pick up a little handful of substrate and sprinkle around over top and then fine tune where they landed so it looks more like nature.

Glad its coming along!

I'm gonna try that. Thanks!