Rock From Sea

[shaun_j]

hi

just wondering i found a bit of reef when i was out on my boat the other day and wanted to put it in my freshwater tank. ive been soaking it in tap water for a good week now. would this be ok to put in ?

thanks

 

[Corleone]

Test it with vinegar, or preferably a stronger acid (API's nitrate test bottle 1 has hydrochloric acid in it). if it fizzes, the rock will have an effect on hardness and pH, which is usually undesirable in freshwater tanks.

 

[Jallen]

Test it with vinegar, or preferably a stronger acid (API's nitrate test bottle 1 has hydrochloric acid in it). if it fizzes, the rock will have an effect on hardness and pH, which is usually undesirable in freshwater tanks.

That's an awesome piece of information, i'll try to remember that

 

[Miss Wiggle]

unlikely to be a good idea, as above it'll very likely mess with your pH

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, important to remember that all those reefs with embedded corals and shells are -loaded- with the very carbonate stuff that we use to "harden" and raise pH in aquariums when that's needed.

Kind of cool to realize the whole line of earth history... that often our things like "limestone hills" are just upheavals of earth crust that was once the bed of an ancient ocean and was therefor composed almost entirely of shells and corals and that those ancient animals were just sucking up and using carbonate in the water (just like our lithotrophic bacteria do!) and,and,and well, its just all a big circle and your aquarium is very much affected by those ancient creatures, right? Even your fish have evolved to have delicate systems that are "tuned" for a particular range of carbonate hardness in the water and their systems will suffer when carbonate hardness (and its resulting effect on pH) is jerked around on them.

The testing Corleone mentions is good, because it gives a good way to test unknown rocks in all cases and get a feel for whether they might be ok for your tank or not.

~~waterdrop~~