River rocks...

[Japola44]

So about 50% of the people in my neighborhood landscape with river rocks. I asume they are river rocks, because they are mostly grey in color, smooth, and rounded. So my question is do you think it would be safe if, after boiling and bleaching, i "borrowed" some to make caves in my 55gal for my bichirs.
I'm getting rid of the fake drift wood in my tank soon and replacing it with real drift wood. They had been using it for a hiding spot. So i wanted something to replace it. I figured the cheapest way was to stack some of the rocks up and make little hiding spots.
What do you think?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Probably would be ok to just use bleach solution, scrub it well, then soak in heavily dechlorinated water. As for boiling, I've heard of river rock exploding if it get's too hot.

 

[Japola44]

woah... exploding? thats crazy haha ok mental note don't boil rocks lol. *images flying chunks of rock in kitchen*

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It's due to the water build-up in the rock. The water turns to steam, pressure increases, and Boom, lol. You ever throw river rock in a campfire? I have, lol. Some didn't do anything, some just cracked, and some literally exploded.

 

[QTOFFER]

I've heard of rocks exploding if you try to sterilize them by baking them on a very hot grill.

 

[tropicfishman]

when you think about it, it does make sense really

 

[Andos99]

call mythbusters and have them try it out.

 

[fish_4_all]

Just one thing to be careful of. Make sure the rocks can't shift or slide of and trap or crush your fish.

 

[Blucat]

Also see if you can find out what kind of rock they are.... (eg. limestone, etc) Some rocks can leach things into your water, raise ph or make your water hard.

If you can't identify you could place the rocks in a container of tank water and monitor the water parameters for a few weeks to see if it effects the water in any way.

 

[Jchillin]

I use River rocks, they are just the thing for bottom feeders. Here's what mine look like:

I did boil them for several minutes...nothing came out or off them. No explosions either.