Found some rocks today

[Krogman]

How can I go about making them tank safe?

 

[captaincritical]

I would first check to see if they respond to an acid test. If you pour vinegar on them and they fizz, it's possible they could raise the pH in your tank.

To get them nice and clean, you can pour boiling water over them or even boil them in water if you'd like. They're nice-looking rocks.

 

[Krogman]

Thanks Captain

 

[Pamiam]

Besides what the above post stated, when I put new rocks in my tank from the out side, I bake them at 400 for about an hour.

Why I bake them now is once I placed rocks in the boiling water and waited until they cooled and was ready to put them in my tank. I noticed snails came out of a rock crevice still alive. I did not think anything could survive boiling water but it did.

It creeped me out, so now I don't take chances.

 

[Swinse]

I've seen a lot of posts here warning people against boiling or putting rocks in the oven as any air pockets in the rocks can expand and cause the rocks to explode or shatter.

I would test them with vinegar to test for calcium and if they don't react I'd wash in hot water then leave outside in the sun for a week or so.

I use a pressure washer/water blaster on driftwood or rocks before I put them onto my tanks. You'd be surprised how much comes off.

 

[Krogman]

Food for thought there. Def don't want snail invasion and do not want shrapnel bombs in my kitchen even more so.

 

[Krogman]

Hm... Would Boiling rocks be like boiling eggs? They won't explode, just dont put then in the microwave.

 

[Rivercats]

You can find a ton of information online about how many types of rocks can explode while boiling. Porous rocks are more likely to explode. Snails also tend to hitchhike on porous rocks as can many types of larve, hydro's, and other unwanted creatures if the rocks are collected from local waters. Giving rocks a good scrub or pressure spray them to remove most dirt and detritus, then soaking them in good hot water will work and kill most unwanted hitchhikers.

 

[Krogman]

Theory busted. About an hour of hot soaking work? These rocks were collected by a lady and have been in that plastic container for a few years at least. A few pieces look like coral possibly. They did fizz under the vinegar test.

 

[Rivercats]

If they are that old just scrub them off well under hot water to remove dirt.

Any rocks that fizzed with vinegar will leach carbonates into the water and cause ph/kh/ and gh to rise. Great for cichlid tanks or for those who have naturally soft water but not always welcome in planted tanks or in tanks that fish don't appreciate hard water.

 

[Krogman]

Anyway to reduce or eliminate the leaching? Or is that just a property of those rocks

 

[garganoth]

I don't know how useful this is but a lot of the rocks in my tanks I have found. I use a pressure hose attachment to initially clean them really good in a bucket. Then I soak them in hot water and add Waste away then use a alage brush to scrub them...my lfs does it this way and I have never had a problem with them.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[ArtistGardener]

Like others said, any rocks that bubble when given the vinegar test should not be used unless you are trying to raise pH and carbonate levels (because your tap water is very soft/low pH or because you want to create hard water for cichlids). Those rocks that fizz under vinegar are high in carbonates and always will be. You probably don't want to use them.

 

[Krogman]

Thank you everyone!

 

[Rivercats]

Anyway to reduce or eliminate the leaching? Or is that just a property of those rocks

There is nothing to do for that so unless you want to increase ph, gh, and kh I wouldn't use them.