shelzie Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hi, is lime harmful for fish, i have been told a few different things and just want to know what people think. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Lime is harmful to fish BUT depending on what fish you keep... Limestone is ok for African Rift Lake species as it buffers the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Lime as in fruit? Or lime as in Calcium hydroxide? The fruit, I doubt it, the mineral I'd hope not seeing as there are millions of reef tanks being dosed with it... Just don't dump so much in it alters the PH too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelzie Posted February 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 hi, not the fruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Do you mean, if you put a lime stone rock in your tank will it be ok.?? What is the context of you question?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 You were referring to the question you asked in Off Topic?? After I mentioned Limestone Rock in Gannets thread? So assumed you meant that shelzie and not the FRUIT :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I have a 300 litre heavily planted community tank with three large chunks of marble and the fish don't mind at all. Calcium carbonate (limestone,marble,shells etc) is not very soluble and only realy in acid water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 You are right alanmin, we use aragonite as our buffer as such.. however, we have noticed that our limestone rocks break down rather alot, probably more so than your marble would... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelzie Posted February 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 well i setting up a new tank ant want to have white stones down instead of the mixed colours. so i went into bunnings and had a look at what stones they had in bulk and they had these white ones but they said they had lime in and it will kill the fish that i out in the tank. so i went to the garden centre to see what they had and they had some with lime in also, but they said it wont kill my fish, so i just a bit confused about if it will or if it wont. i just need heaps of white stones to cover another six foot tank, and the ones that they say have lime in are the size i want and the cheepest. i just dont want to buy some, and kill all the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 It'll raise your pH too much. Would be good if you had African Cichlids, but anything else will not like it at all. Best to get a gravel that doesn't contain lime. Really don't want it to contain anything, otherwise it'll produce dust and muck the tank whenever you're working with it. They (bunnings/mitre10 etc) also sell garden pebbles, which are perfect, however $5 for a small bag, but they come in a variety of colours. A cheaper alternative is propagating sand, which is available in white, and looks really good. Most cost-effective way (besides sand) we found was landscape supply, they sell river pebbles for $7 per 25kg or so, we did our 650L tank for under $25. Might be worth a look at what your local landscape suppliers have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 White stones look great but the don't stay white very long. I assume it is because they reflect the light but they will support a lot of algae growth normally. I have three large pieces of wind worn Takaka marble which I have made into caves by gluing them onto slate and adding clay flower pots. They are the same marble as the floor in the Christchurch town hall which is white but they now vary between grey and black with algae. They have not been green (I assume it is because of the Ca CO3) and they do look good. I used them because of their great shape but since they will not remain white you might be better off starting with grey or black stones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I would suggest as SpidersWeb said, stay away from the Lime based chip or peebles as your substrate if you are not going to be keeping Rift Lake Africans... It will help buffer your PH... As for the shop saying Lime won't kill your fish (non African) that is another story.. I know of a guy who made his concrete fish pond and unfortunately it was leeching Lime all the time and knocking off his goldfish, tried explaining this to him, and he still believes it can't be happening :roll: :lol: As far as the stones never staying white, we have aragonite substrate (used for Rift Lake Africans) And it is forever white, we don't get any algae build up at all, this is in our corner display tank.. In the 8fter apart from having a battle from Cyano which is almost over, we don't have algae problems there really either... Not sure if its because of the Ph? Does algae thrive in higher Ph levels? If you were to have white stones (straight white tank safe pebbles for non Africans) I would suggest having a Plec in there. Good Luck with whatever option you decide on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Visser Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hi Michele I have two tanks inside Pitt should have shown. The one has corral rock and the other Lime Stone Rock. We bought it at Stone Direct Cheep as. The slabs of brown rock we have in the fish room come from the same place. They also sell nice round smooth River rocks. We have our E Yellows in the tank with Lime Stone with no problems at all. pH constant at 8.4 Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 What fish are you wanting to keep in the tank shelzie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I think we should be clear about lime. Calcium oxide is then slaked to give calcium hydroxide which then reacts with CO2 to form calcium carbonate. Marble and limestone are calcium carbonate and concrete and the like contain calcium oxide and hydroxide which are way more toxic than marble which will only make the water hard if it is acid, otherwise it is almost insoluble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I wasn't using marble as example, but get what you mean alanmin and an interesting piece of info actually, I used to have marble in my mbuna tanks, but don't use it anymore.. looked nice, but heavy! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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