I’m preparing my 90 galling for cichlids and am adding rocks!
Issue: bought some lava rock and slate (I think) form my lfs for cheap, also bought some slate online for a little less cheap. The ones I got online I boiled, vinegar tested, and used the api nitrate bottle #1 and they were perfect. The ones I got at lfs, I boiled and tested and they’re all reactive! They also have a spot left on them at the site of testing. This is odd to me and I’m confused. Could there me something on them I need to work off? I also soaked in vinegar/water and scrubbed with steel wool (no real knowledge of why this would be effective) and they still react
Now I have pretty hard water, 7.8 in the tank and 8.3 tap. I don’t want to raise ph but why would this be happening? Also want to put the lava rock into my 29 gal RO water planted (ph is still kinda high in there too for some reason)
Side note: found some rocks camping as well, can’t tell if it’s phylogeny or petrified wood or what but they don’t seem to react and the bucket test showed they actually brought my ph down to 7.8 in bucket while control tap water cup went up to 8.4. I retested one of them and did see a little fizzing this time around, I’m very confused.
Question: so, should I clean them somehow? Did I misidentify? Are they safe to use?
Nitrate bottle 1 fizzy:
Lava rock:
Spot post test:
Issue: bought some lava rock and slate (I think) form my lfs for cheap, also bought some slate online for a little less cheap. The ones I got online I boiled, vinegar tested, and used the api nitrate bottle #1 and they were perfect. The ones I got at lfs, I boiled and tested and they’re all reactive! They also have a spot left on them at the site of testing. This is odd to me and I’m confused. Could there me something on them I need to work off? I also soaked in vinegar/water and scrubbed with steel wool (no real knowledge of why this would be effective) and they still react
Now I have pretty hard water, 7.8 in the tank and 8.3 tap. I don’t want to raise ph but why would this be happening? Also want to put the lava rock into my 29 gal RO water planted (ph is still kinda high in there too for some reason)
Side note: found some rocks camping as well, can’t tell if it’s phylogeny or petrified wood or what but they don’t seem to react and the bucket test showed they actually brought my ph down to 7.8 in bucket while control tap water cup went up to 8.4. I retested one of them and did see a little fizzing this time around, I’m very confused.
Question: so, should I clean them somehow? Did I misidentify? Are they safe to use?
Nitrate bottle 1 fizzy:
Lava rock:
Spot post test: