Things For Hardscaping.

[nortonmad213]

sorry if this is in the wrong place (you think id know where to post by now

so i was wondering, what kind of wood/ rocks can be used for freshwater tanks,
there is a lot of resivours where i live and im sure they wouldnt mind losing a couple stones
and a local log seller is a friend so i can get some from him
i was just wondering if it would adversly affect my tank if i did this?
thanks in advance.

 

[Maehlice]

In my experience and reading, any natural material can be used in an aquarium.  Man-made objects not specifically designed for aquaria (thinking about concrete and refined metals, mostly) should be avoided.
 
I have pea gravel from a hardware store, stones from my yard and various other places, some sort of coral driftwood thing I found in Aruba, two pieces of driftwood from eBay and a big piece of driftwood found in a river nearby.
 
Especially If you use something from nature, just be sure to clean it properly before it goes in.  I also do a "parameter test" (not sure if it has an official term) in which I place the new object in 5 gallons of new, fresh water for at least a week to verify if it alters any water parameters (mainly pH and GH) during that time.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

In my experience and reading, any natural material can be used in an aquarium. 

 
That's not true. You don't want to put limestone in your tank for example as it will raise the ph levels of your tank.
 
Have a look here for an older discussion on Rocks in the aquarium. Woods will also be the same and you don't want anything that might leech into the aquarium. I'll see if I can find anything re wood.
Edit: Can't initially find anything but woods like Oak and Beech should be fine but you need to avoid things like evergreens, willow trees or anything toxic to humans! 

 

[nortonmad213]

ok thanks a lot, i had heard about the limestone raising ph so was going to try and avoid.
as for the wood i'm going to have to keep looking.
is there anything i have to do to the wood and rocks before placing in tank,
eg soaking, boiling anything like that?

 

[Maehlice]

That is an amazing in-depth article.  Thanks for sharing it.  I'd love to see one for wood also, if found.
 

You don't want to put limestone in your tank for example as it will raise the ph levels of your tank.

 
What if an increase in pH or GH is desired, though?
 
If the goal is a hard, basic tank (thinking about livebearers, mostly), the addition of limestone or even marble wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, so long as the affects are known and managed (hence the "parameter test").

 

[nortonmad213]

i already have some bogwood in there so to counteract that i could add limestone to raise it back to normal levels?

just finished reading that article so informative thanks alot

 

[Lunar Jetman]

What if an increase in pH or GH is desired, though?

The problem is that you can't guarantee any sort of stability with this kind of pH change and any large increases over a short space of time is likely to be dangerous to your fish.

 

[nortonmad213]

ahh i c 
i wasn't going to unless there was a definitive way of checking
i been keeping my eyes out round my local resivour for a more natural looking rock than the shaped ones in stores.
i'll post pics once i find some i like

 

[nortonmad213]

Yea I thought so. Would be nice to think it so easy. I'll just have to keep lookibg

 

[nortonmad213]

these are the rocks i managed to find
once i find the perfect bit of wood i'll post again