Rocks...

[Doug]

I'm going to be getting a 4foot tank sometime soon, and want to start collecting some rocks for it, not to use as substrate, but to make hiding places for fish.

what kind of rocks are appropriate for an aquarium?

and where can they be found?

anyone in hamilton have a favourite place to collect them from?

Doug

[TimTam22]

I found some awesome ones at the beach last weekend 8) - I haven't put them in yet but apparently all you have to do is boil them and they should be fine.

Beach might not be the easiest idea though :-?

[Fishkeepa]

I was told they should be ok just give em a boil

[Caryl]

I have never boiled any rocks I have put in my aquariums, just scrubbed the muck off. Depends where you collect them of course. There may be residual farm sprays or stuff on them.

[Damiana]

Depends on what kind of tank you're doing. If you're doing a hardwater setup, there's a lot of really cheap schist to be found. One good place is down at a wholesale landscaping place in Cambridge. You buy it by the kilo. I think I have about $20 worth, and its completely filled a 4 ft long tank.

[Caryl]

Why buy rocks when you are surrounded by free ones? :-?

[Rory]

Why buy rocks when you are surrounded by free ones? :-?

I agree, i managet to pinch off with one of my mums spare slate tiles!

Cost $0.00

Shist might be hard to find lying around in hamilton, its mostly volcanic there isn't in??? any way you could make cool hiding structures out of concrete, driftwood, etc etc

I must admit making hiding structures look good is harder than you think. But good luck and make sure you post some pics!

[Doug]

thanks for the tips guys.

any types of rocks to avoid, I'm going for a general comunity tank with ph 6.8, or as close as i can keep it.

gimme a month or two to ge the tank setup and some fish in it and i will post up some pics.

Doug

[Keri Anne]

Avoid the volcanic rock if you can as it 's known to be high in iron which can be harmfull to fish.

[MRSkz]

I get all my rocks from my "Southland Sand and Gravel" and I've managed to get a shopping bag full for only a buck or two. I never boil either, just give them a wash and in they go. Haven't had any problems yet.

[SpidersWeb]

I'd go down to the Waikato River, and pick yourself a nice selection. The standard grey river rocks are fine, I just let mine dry out and spray with hose, and run over with an old tooth brush. Try to get flat ones for roofs and tall squareish ones for walls if you plan on building any caves.

Flat rock slates are fantastic for roofs if you can find any.

Only real rock that'd cause you any concern that I could think of would be limestone. If you have any rocks you're suspicious of, poor vinegar on them, if it fuzzes a little then don't use it, otherwise its fine.

[TimTam22]

If you have any rocks you're suspicious of, poor vinegar on them, if it fuzzes a little then don't use it, otherwise its fine.

Can I ask what the vinger clashes with to make it fizz? :roll:

[SpidersWeb]

Can I ask what the vinger clashes with to make it fizz? :roll:

Lime

[Caryl]

Lime makes it fizz and lime will raise your pH.

[Ira]

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as most tanks PH tends to drop due to acids in fish waste.

[alanmin4304]

I have three large pieces of marble in one tank and the fish and plant are doing OK. It depends on what kind of fish you want to keep,what you feed and how often you water change.

[Doug]

i belive it is the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) that reacts to the acid in vinegar.

limestone breaks down quite easily in water, and I would imagine the consant PH swings would be a bad thing.

I just changed all the substrate in my 20L tank when I found out it was causing the PH to rise form 6.8 to 8 everytime i changed the water.

I didnt want to have that kind of problem in my new tank, so guess i will collect a bunch of rocks and soak them in water overnight and test the PH of the water see if it changes.

Doug

[JoandWilly]

There's a great place in hamz called captain compost, they have all types of rock's under the sun, they are located in frankton if anyones wondering.

[whetu]

Definitely do the vinegar test if you're in any doubt. Or yeah, leave them in a bucket of water for a few days and test the pH of the water. But also keep a bucket of plain water as a 'control'... some tap water will change its pH after it's been left to settle for a few days so you need to know what's the rock effect and what's just the water doing its thing.

I believe bottle # 1 in a nitrate test kit is hydrochloric acid so you should also be able to get some nice fizzing with that if you get bored with the vinegar :lol:

If you're doing the fizz test, be sure to test any whitish lines in the rocks. Sometimes a patterned rock is made up of layers of lots of different stuff and it all has different properties.

Personally I like nice smooth dark river rocks and I always think it's a good idea to boil them. Better safe than sorry! (*has visions of 'rock snot' invading her tank* eeeewwww!)

On the other hand I don't know how you would make places for the fish to hide using roundish river stones. I use driftwood for the hiding places and rocks just for decoration.

Good luck and have fun!