Rock ID please

[earhtmother]

Was at a local aquarium club's auction on the weekend & picked up these 2 buckets of rocks from one of the "vendors" for $7 each. All he could tell me was that he "thought" the lava rock came from a freshwater tank & he wasn't sure whether the white came from a salt or fresh tank or what it was. Any body got any thought in an ID for the white and what I need to do before adding it to my freshwater tanks one of which is shrimp

 

[Delapool]

Kind of looks like carbonates I’ve seen collected near beaches here - did you try any acid on it?

 

[V227]

The bulky white rocks look like Honeycombed Limestone. The branch white rocks look like coral. Probably from a SW tank.

 

[finnipper59]

Was at a local aquarium club's auction on the weekend & picked up these 2 buckets of rocks from one of the "vendors" for $7 each. All he could tell me was that he "thought" the lava rock came from a freshwater tank & he wasn't sure whether the white came from a salt or fresh tank or what it was. Any body got any thought in an ID for the white and what I need to do before adding it to my freshwater tanks one of which is shrimpView attachment 309205View attachment 309206View attachment 309207View attachment 309208View attachment 309209

I'm not the greatest expert on rocks, but I do know how to test for the presence of lime. Take a wide enough plastic container so that you can dunk at least a small section of each piece you have in it. Pour vinager in the container to a depth of about an inch. Dunk an edge of each piece in the vinager. If it fizzes of foams, it contains lime and should not be used. It will cause the hardness and pH of the water to climb very high.

 

[V227]

I used to have the same concerns regarding Limestone and the possible adverse effects on water parameters. I learned that if the tank water is already somewhat hard with a higher PH
Limestone will have little effect on water parameters. If the water is soft and acidic, Limestone will knock the PH up to approx. 8.3, and increase hardness. The benifets from the
Limestone include no more ph crashes and brighter, clearer water. I don't know how Limestone clears water, but lakes and streams w/ limestone beds are always clear. Hard water does adversely affect fish that need soft acidic water to have successful spawns.
Most commercially available fish can easily tolorate water w/PH of 8.2 - 8.3.
Pictured is my show tank with nearly 200 lbs. Of Honeycombed Limestone. It is stocked with numerous S.A. Cichlids and Tetras known to have originated in soft, slightly acidic water.
They all thrived in the hard water.

 

[finnipper59]

I used to have the same concerns regarding Limestone and the possible adverse effects on water parameters. I learned that if the tank water is already somewhat hard with a higher PH
Limestone will have little effect on water parameters. If the water is soft and acidic, Limestone will knock the PH up to approx. 8.3, and increase hardness. The benifets from the
Limestone include no more ph crashes and brighter, clearer water. I don't know how Limestone clears water, but lakes and streams w/ limestone beds are always clear. Hard water does adversely affect fish that need soft acidic water to have successful spawns.
Most commercially available fish can easily tolorate water w/PH of 8.2 - 8.3.
Pictured is my show tank with nearly 200 lbs. Of Honeycombed Limestone. It is stocked with numerous S.A. Cichlids and Tetras known to have originated in soft, slightly acidic water.
They all thrived in the hard water.

Were they just immediately dropped in water that was 8.3 after being in pet shop water at 7.0!???

 

[V227]

The water in my area is hard, with PH ranging from 7.8 - 8.2, depending on which reservoir. All my fish come from local stores. No acclimation problems. IMO when acclimating a fish,
having pristine water is far more important than matching PH and hardness.
Couple of years ago, happened upon a website of a vender selling Texas Holey Rock. I learned the above noted info about Limestone in home aquariums. I noticed THR for sale in my LFS and how expensive it was; $4 per lb. I later found better quality THR at my local Rock yard for
12 cents to 25 cents per lb. I bought about 200 lbs. Rinsed it off, then scaped it into three tanks. No problems at all.

 

[finnipper59]

The water in my area is hard, with PH ranging from 7.8 - 8.2, depending on which reservoir. All my fish come from local stores. No acclimation problems. IMO when acclimating a fish,
having pristine water is far more important than matching PH and hardness.
Couple of years ago, happened upon a website of a vender selling Texas Holey Rock. I learned the above noted info about Limestone in home aquariums. I noticed THR for sale in my LFS and how expensive it was; $4 per lb. I later found better quality THR at my local Rock yard for
12 cents to 25 cents per lb. I bought about 200 lbs. Rinsed it off, then scaped it into three tanks. No problems at all.

Then in your case, it doesn't seem to matter if its limestone. Other than worring about that, Im not the one to identify rocks.