Putting beach rocks in freshwater?

I went out to brittas today and got myself some small pebbles, Question is, May I put them in my freshwater tank or do I need to soak them in water for a week or something like that?

i'm from brittas, take it you mean brittas bay instead?

all depends on what stones they are mate because some have contaminates and leach whatnots into the tank... i don't know the ins and outs myself tbh so i'll let a more knolledgable member take over but deffo find out 1st. even stick up a pic.
if you google it there are certain ways of checking with bicarbonate soda or something like that, a very unreliable test is the vinegar test but uncle google can fill ye in

davey_c wrote:

i'm from brittas, take it you mean brittas bay instead?

all depends on what stones they are mate because some have contaminates and leach whatnots into the tank... i don't know the ins and outs myself tbh so i'll let a more knolledgable member take over but deffo find out 1st. even stick up a pic.
if you google it there are certain ways of checking with bicarbonate soda or something like that, a very unreliable test is the vinegar test but uncle google can fill ye in

I'll try the vinegar test, Put a drop of vinegar on the rocks, If it fizzes don't use the rock I think. But If your from Brittas, Why does it say Kildare? You moved I'm guessing? And yes, I mean't brittas bay

In this Economic situation it is tempting to try to save Money by taking stuff from Nature but as has been advised, till members are blue in the Face, you take a huge chance going the cheap route as this link will explain, I know that your Fish won't be eating the Rocks but Chemicals are my main concern not what may be living on the Rocks, Rocks can absorb all types of stuff from Oil spillages to Chemical spillages, Chemicals can penetrate some rocks and are hard to eliminate. Pesticides (Organophosphates) and Herbicides etc.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/fforu...this-disaster#113939

Kev.

Uncle google will probably say things like **quote**"....use the vinegar test....if there's a fizz don't use; if there's not then it is safe...."**unquote**

Those types of myths are simply crap.

Just because a rock fizzes when you add vinegar does not exclude it from using in a fish tank (just try it with coral that is put into many malawi and marine tanks) on it's own.

In reality the vinegar test as a much use a telling if someone if male or female by the brand of beefburgers they buy from lidl.

There are lot worse things, as Stretnik says, in rocks than limestone.
You'd need to be sure that the rocks do not contain minerals or contaminants that will kill fish.

If you can be certain (...and not by the vinegar test..) then many feral rocks would be good....but you need to be certain.

ian

igmillichip wrote:

Uncle google will probably say things like **quote**"....use the vinegar test....if there's a fizz don't use; if there's not then it is safe...."**unquote**

Those types of myths are simply crap.

Just because a rock fizzes when you add vinegar does not exclude it from using in a fish tank (just try it with coral that is put into many malawi and marine tanks) on it's own.

In reality the vinegar test as a much use a telling if someone if male or female by the brand of beefburgers they buy from lidl.

There are lot worse things, as Stretnik says, in rocks than limestone.
You'd need to be sure that the rocks do not contain minerals or contaminants that will kill fish.


If you can be certain (...and not by the vinegar test..) then many feral rocks would be good....but you need to be certain.

ian

But how can I be certain? There must be some way of knowing if a rock is able to go into a freshwater tank.

You buy them from someone in Retail who says they are safe... end of, they guarantee their safety and you then have recourse if it proves otherwise. To know if they are safe ( the ones you collect yourself ) hire a very expensive Chemist or send them to a Lab ( equally if not more expensive ) Other than that, empty some Cash from your Pockets and buy them.

Go ahead and put all sorts into your Big Tank that will have lots of expensive Fish etc and take the risk of losing everything.

Take the advice and leave the unknown to itself.

If you discover a GUARANTEED way of knowing if something is safe to add to a Set-up please let us know or better still, market it, you'll be worth a fortune

Kev.

Any coloured specks, veins or patches, usually red brown or green will indicate metallic traces and are not to be used. If the rock is clean, it should be fne. I use it in my Malawi setup without any problems. I choose carefully, bring home and rinse thoroughly with the power washer and check again carefully. Any doubt and it goes back. Maybe there's less pollution on the West coast, or maybe I've just been lucky, but hey, it works for me.

hi,i used yr idea for my malawi tank.first i took the rocks and soaked them for a week in water(boiled first) after the water cooled down added 15 drops of esha 2000,small stir, then after 7 days a good scrub with a nail brush under hot water.had no problems.but do be aware of brown stripes. Hope this helps.

anglecichlid wrote:

hi,i used yr idea for my malawi tank.first i took the rocks and soaked them for a week in water(boiled first) after the water cooled down added 15 drops of esha 2000,small stir, then after 7 days a good scrub with a nail brush under hot water.had no problems.but do be aware of brown stripes. Hope this helps.

Well, there you have it, best of luck CFD.

Kev.

It would be silly for me to say that rocks from the beach or found on a mountain side are not safe...afterall, where do rocks come from in the first place.

However, using 'feral' rocks (for want of better term) poses a few questions and conditions.

Certain rock types and rocks containing obvious ores are easy spot as potential not safe.
But spotting hidden risks in rocks not showing obvious large ore deposits is not always easy with the naked eye.

One question that one would need to ask is 'are my fish worth the risk to save a few bob'?
Even some superstore petshops sell quite large pebbles for a euro (cheaper than the petrol to go mountain hunting).
If they are proved to be unsafe, and you lose your fish then, yes, you've lost your fish but you also have someone to pick a bone with.

When using uncertain rocks, then partial water changes would really need to be pretty regular.
You may find that a normally unsafe rock proves to be fine if there is constant partial water changes (as you would find in a river)....but could a fish-keeper guarantee that their water change regime is good enough.

Yep, of course the rocks found here or there could be totally safe.....but I, even as a chemist with pretty good facilities at home for testing many things, would not like to recommend a 'yes' to someone else asking the question.
Maybe the risks are too high for the saving or effort you'd have to make.

ian

Mossy learned the hard way and it is irresponsible for someone unqualified to say "it's fine, it worked for me" I sure as hell would hate to be the Guy that said it was and have to accept the advice was wrong and have to face the person they told it was ok, if you could actually see the Rocks/Stones in question , you might have a basic idea but to suggest they're fine not having seen them first hand is dangerous.

Kev.

CarbonFiberDuck wrote:

davey_c wrote:

But If your from Brittas, Why does it say Kildare? You moved I'm guessing? And yes, I mean't brittas bay

i only said i was from brittas (wicklow side of the border) and yes i moved a few miles down the road into kildare ... brings back memories of car loads passing through and asking where the bay is... doubt they ever seen it on our directions

anyways back on topic.. personaly i wouldn't take the chance, i'm happy for those who haven't had a bad reaction from this sort of thing but you could be 1 of the unfortunate ones, then again you could be fine... you can't tell what lies beneath the surface unless you see tell tale signs of a mineral you simply don't know. so you have 2 very knolledgable members answering your question and at the end of the day its your decision mate... as kev says.. learn from others mistakes and misfortunes

I picked up a few really nicely shaped and colourful pebbles over in Portmarnock beach a few months ago,brought them home and done the usual..scrub,boil,scrub again etc.,put them in the tank and thought,yeh,lovely addition...........after an hour or so i sat back and thought to myself,hmmmm what if i got this wrong,i will lose these fish that i am terribly fond of and then i added up the dollars that these fish cost me and they were whipped out of there!!
Us Chefs have a saying...."if in any doubt,throw it out".......something similar i think applies here!!

best of luck,Ger

sorry i forgot to mention try to steer clear of limestone cause it can up yr ph.you can test this with any house hold bleach.(take a small sample of rock and drop yr bleach on it,away from your fishtank of course,and if it fizzes its limestone.) The other thing is,that water is a natural solvant so if the is any nastys in your waterscape or mine for that mater,weekly 20% water changes wont do your fish any harm,and remove any thing the water is after releasing in yr tank.

The best way I know of to test if rocks will slowly dissolve and leach into a tank, is:

Boil rocks to kill any nasty critters.

Place rocks in vinegar for a day or two, if you see bubbles forming on the rocks then you know they are dissolving and will effect water chemistry.

Boil again, and rinse to remove all vinegar, and good to go!

I'm failing to see the point of using vinegar as THE test for safeness.

It is one test for things like elemental Iron or elemental Zinc (gives off hyrdogen gas), or for testing carbonates (gives off carbon dioxide).

There are a few potentially toxic compounds that will dissolve in the vinegar solution....but how much and how quickly is different matter.

It won't necessarily dissolve or test for molecular Iron or Zinc or many other compounds.

I'm not really wishing to get into a discussion on chemistry here, but....I could

ian

Go on Ian.... pleeeeeeeeeze...

Kev.

I don't know how many times this has been discussed at nauseum in here.......beach stuff - rocks, crabs, stray wood, sand, bottles with messages in them are simply not worth the risk to save a few quid.... ..wasn't there a thread last week where someone lost entire tank of clowns over a few small crabs. Filter feeders, absorbent rocks, sand etc are risk items without a comparable upside....

Yep, spot on but the crazy thing is, many many times it's fine but to have you squealing like a Pig, it only needs to go wrong one Time, it'll make you regret it for the rest of your life, it's like saying, I'll only drive this once with no Seat belt and bang.... it was the wrong Time....

OK, I'm done with this Thread.

Kev.

Would it be safe to collect rocks from a river? or do the same precations need to be followed?

Stuart.

Wind your neck in Ian, I am simply providing how I test. And from my experience this has worked well.

When i was setting up my freshwater I noticed TDS values going up.. appart from my tap water having figures arround 300, I was getting even higher readings in my tank and very fast. Ph very high also, so I said thats it, have to find whats going on.
took most decorations out and left them in buckets, pots in aquarium water and left one with just aquarium water. 3 days later saw most decorations, mainly stones raising my TDS and also a bit Ph. decided to leave only bogwood in aquarium... actually now that I think about it... it looks more natural now

The original question is regarding using scavanged items in an aquarium, answering with "just buy it from a shop" does not address the original post, does it. In fact it is far from helpful. Is it being suggested that members should just go to their LFS rather than trying to draw on the experiences and opinions of forum members? That sort of attitude doesn't make for much of a community forum.

Seriously dude.... have you just glanced over everything that has been written? there has been some serious attempts to address the Poster's query, I won't use scavanged stuff from Beaches because of the risks and said so, so, the only alternative is to buy from LFS, what was said that was wrong?
I told him my opinion and in doing so , addressed his query as far as I am concerned.

Kev.

Kudos Kev.

My 4 year old nephew brought me back a nice stone from the beach that he picked up for my tank (bless him) he loves the fish tank and can always spot a new fish or plant the I'v added while he's been away. (future fish keeper in the making)

I Boiled it for a few hours and added in the tank along with a piece of bog-wood id purchased. It dosent really match the theme of my tank but It was just nice to see his face when he spotted it. So far it has been 2 months without a problem and some of the fish actually seem to like it. I often see the pleco chillin out on it.

My friend has just finished cycling his first tank and added some large stones from a river, he has subsequently lost all his fish and has had to start again (he not a happy man at the min) He told me he had boiled them upon my advice to do so but when I seen his tank, the water was very brown and dirty looking so something was leeching out of them.

I think the moral of the story is that it is obviously a risk and its up to each individual to weather or not they want to take that risk.

This thread has been answered.
Locking it now.

Valerie