Driftwood and Pyrite??

[Nik74]

This could be a really stupid question but gonna ask it anyway...

Is it possible for the driftwood in my aquarium to have pyrite in it? Basically it looks like it has lots of gold flakes through it. If so, also wondering if this is what could be lowering the PH of the water (my tap water is 6.8/7) but the aquarium is only 6.0. (by the way, this wasn't there when I bought it).

Also could the driftwood be causing the ammonia not to dissapear? (i'm doing a lot of water changes and its constantly at 0.25).

cheers

 

[rebelyeller89]

Well drift wood WILL lower your ph, but I have no clue about the gold flakes. Hope they aren't bad, cause they're pretty

 

[blert]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rock_metals.php
Scroll to the bottom for the section on "Fool's Gold".

I found a couple of threads (google) that basically said not to worry just monitor your PH as it will leach sulfuric acid over time and lower your PH. Personally, I wouldn't want something leaching sulfuric acid into my tank no matter how small of an amount.

Couldn't find anything about pyrite in wood other than in fossil wood.

 

[jcolon]

This could be a really stupid question but gonna ask it anyway...

Is it possible for the driftwood in my aquarium to have pyrite in it? Basically it looks like it has lots of gold flakes through it. If so, also wondering if this is what could be lowering the PH of the water (my tap water is 6.8/7) but the aquarium is only 6.0. (by the way, this wasn't there when I bought it).

Also could the driftwood be causing the ammonia not to dissapear? (i'm doing a lot of water changes and its constantly at 0.25).

cheers

Could be Pyrite or Gold. The easiest way to tell is by scraping it on a ceramic plate. Pyrite would leave a dark green / black powder residue.
I'm assuming it was store purchased DW? If so I'm guessing the specs attached to the DW in the area where the DW was gathered.

Pyrite forms in a reducing environment (Oxygen Poor water solution) so I suppose it could be possible it is Pyrite. Sounds like something for me to bring up to our Chemistry Teacher at school.

 

[Nik74]

Yeah I can only find reference to pyrite in rocks not driftwood. Got the driftwood from the aquarium store, but may just scrape a bit off on a ceramic plate and see if there's a residue.

Thanks for the help.