Real rocks in aquarium ??

[Brandon.O]

I found some nice real rocks i wanna use in my new aquarium setup will it be safe to use them if i give em a good rinse ?, also will the ph and all that good stuff be affected by the rocks ?

[lars5277]

Real rocks have a lot of pores and holes in them, anything you use to clean them might remain in the pores and affect your PH. They are very hard to clean.

[Shelby]

Not all rocks are real porous. Just rinse them real well then soak them in water for awhile with several water changes.

My 46g bowfront aquarium has only fossils in it, mostly that I have found on the beaches of lake michigan.. and it's one resident, a brown bullhead, is fine. Bullheads are tough buggers though.

[lars5277]

Is it possible to boil them a couple of times to make sure there is no bacteria or anything like that in them?

[Shelby]

Yeah I don't see why not. I didn't bother but if I had more delicate fish, I might do something like that.

[wolfy-hound]

First it depends on the type of rock whether or not it will affect your pH etc.
Second it depends on where you found htema nd the likelihood that any pesticides or fertilizers etc would be on them, in which case NO.
Third boiling is a wonderful way to sterilize things, but... boiling certain types of rocks can cause them to explode. Much better to boil water then pour it over the rocks, and even then a face mask would be advisable. A rock chip going into your eye is not good.
SO in short, what kind of rock and where you found it is a good thing to think over. If there is a pesticide of any sort even boiling them (Which is dangerous) would not get all of it out, and could potentially kill the fish, and embed itself in any filter medium to lurk waiting to kill more.
With all that said, rocks that are suitable for tanks are a greeat thing, and benificial bacteria will colonize the porous ones to help your tank's biofilter immenously.
Wolfy

[recycling goddess]

if you see any orange in the rock... don't use it. there could be iron in it and that's really bad for your tank!

boiling is risky, although i've done it many times... you can also bake them at 300 degrees for 20 minutes... works great.

all in all... if it's a normal river rock... go ahead and use it. just don't use gardening rocks (lava rock) as they'll mess with your pH in a really bad way!

[Ginevive]

I have a bunch of real rochs in our tanks. I basically wash/scrub any algae (if they were found in the creek) off and make sure nothing's growing in them. I would rinse them off really good in case any pesticides, soap (from someone washing their car, etc) was on it.