Outdoor Rocks

[LeafsFan]

Me and my wife were collecting rocks for our garden and I found a perfectly flat one that would be a great surface for my german rams to potentially user as spawn site.

My question us, is it safe to use? I was going to take some tank water out and scrub it clean. Should I boil it as well? Any other measures I should take?

Thanks

 

[Dennisdiscus]

I would boil it !

 

[Scottyhorse]

If you don't use it, my rams spawn on my DW every week

 

[Ilminded]

Be careful with boiling rocks as they can explode. If you use white vinegar first, it will tell you if enough carbonate is in the rock to screw with your pH. After that, it's better to use a scrub brush and bleach to kill anything on it. Just make sure the rock is bleach free before putting into tank.

 

[Mogurako]

Just use a stiff bristled brush and as hot of water as you can get out of the tap. There is no need to boil, bake or bleach rocks, if the source of the rock is that questionable then just skip using it.
I can't even count how many hundreds of pounds of rocks I have brought back from local rivers to use in my tanks , the only prep I have done on them is scrub them with a brush and rinse with hot water. I have yet to this day loose a fish or shrimp because of this.

Also a note on white vinegar it is not a strong enough acid to get an accurate reaction as to wether or not the rock in question will alter the PH of the tank. There is a type of acid that is readily available that can be used for this I just forget the name off the top of my head.

 

[Ilminded]

Depending on the size of rock in question and size of the tank, the vinegar test will give a good enough idea. Ideally that is all you want to know. The reason you do it is to test for Lime, or CaCO3, which is a natural pH buffer.

 

[LeafsFan]

I'll go with a good scrub in very hot water.

Another thought, I am currently in the process if renovating my basement and we are building a 180g tank into a wall. I was going to collect more rocks in the area to use in it, if I started the process with the current tank (40g) would the bb I get on the rocks help speed up the cycling process when the 180 us going? I would assume it would, just like to hear thoughts.

The plan is to do a south american cichlid tank

 

[Mogurako]

Depending on the size of rock in question and size of the tank, the vinegar test will give a good enough idea. Ideally that is all you want to know. The reason you do it is to test for Lime, or CaCO3, which is a natural pH buffer.

I would have to disagree, yes while the vinegar will react when there is lime in the rock, there are plenty of other compounds in a rock that won't react with the vinegar and still buffer the PH.

My water out of the tap is 6.8-7.2 depending on the time of year. I vinegar tested the rocks that went into the tanks and I got no reaction, however when I test my PH it's in the 7.8-8.0 range. Which is why I no longer put any stock into the vinegar method, it's simply not a strong enough acid to be accurate.

 

[Mogurako]

would the bb I get on the rocks help speed up the cycling process when the 180 us going?

Yes, BB grows on pretty much any surface with in the aquarium. Taking rocks from a cycled tank will help speed up the cycle to an extent. Filter media from an established tank added to a new filter would probably be the fastest way to help a cycle along however.