Slate rock with possible iron deposit

Hi all.
Just back from a very wet stroll up the sleeve blooms and brought back some slate rock that I was going to use to make a cave for my angels. But I think it may have iron deposits and I'm not sure if this will effect my freshwater tank? Should I just leave them or would it be ok to use?
Thanks al

I have used stones and shells from a beach without any probs but never from anywhere else.

I'm sure someone else will know more but i'd scold the slate to be on the safe side.

Pete

Peteemax wrote:

I'm sure someone else will know more but i'd scold the slate to be on the safe side.

Pete

so giving it a good telling off makes it safe to use pete.

ha ha yea was going to give it a good scolding :)thanks for the help. still unsure if i should use it as getting conflicting reports on putting anything with an iron content in.

as far as i'm aware iron is good for planted tanks, but not sure how it would affect fish, i have used slate with small iron deposits before with no negative effects, but hopefully someone will have real evidence on its effects, but with regular water changes it shouldnt cause too much harm

i remember at one time the older fishkeepers used to put a nail into the tank to add iron. not sure of the benefits or otherwise of this though.
i doubt if iron deposits on the slate would have much effect on the water as water changes would dillute any build up.
maybe ian or sean have some thoughts on this subject.

thanks guys. think ill do a water test , add them and then do another test just to be sure id doesn't raise ph. thanks for your help.

I'd agree with sheag and derek (well....not sure about giving the slate a good old 'slating' works though )

I'd be cautious if using for marine water, but for freshwater I have no problems with addition of iron.
Laterite, the red clay stuff, has a heavy iron content (the stuff that I use even stickes to the algae magnet..which is a bit of pain).

So, a few lines of iron in a rock will probably do no harm....and if water changes are doen then they should keep any intense build-up at bay anyway.

I will refrain from going into any science about the need to have iron in the water....you'll be glad to hear.

ian

funny i was actually walking with a scientist when i picked them up and he went into the chemistry of it with me

alan.s wrote:

funny i was actually walking with a scientist when i picked them up and he went into the chemistry of it with me

Shall we compare notes? or is it too early on a monday for some chemistry?

There are test kits available to measure the iron content in water. If you decided to go that way you could compare the before and after results after placing the slate in a bucket of aquarium water for a few days for any significant changes.

Also many of the water conditioners today claim to detoxify heavy metals at normal tap water levels, so adding a bit more of that during water changes could help. IAN ???

Dave

Oh I wouldn't be up on all of the chemestry of it but I'm learning as I go think I will purchace a test kit for the iron and leave it in a bucket of tank water to test results. It is nice stuff and should make some nice caves (plus it was free ) . Good to know that it was used as a bace of tanks John thanks. Thanks again for the advice lads.

alan.s wrote:

Oh I wouldn't be up on all of the chemestry of it but I'm learning as I go think I will purchace a test kit for the iron and leave it in a bucket of tank water to test results. It is nice stuff and should make some nice caves (plus it was free ) . Good to know that it was used as a bace of tanks John thanks. Thanks again for the advice lads.

JohnH…..thanks for reminding us of the days of rusting tanks and blue putty and having to wait a while for the glass to settle before our mum’s carpet stopped being a tad damp.

My first marine tanks were angle iron……they started off having a nice 1 inch lip at the top, but soon ended up being a remnant sharp rusted old saw-edge. Stainless steel were simply too expensive; plastic coated were great as they rusted inside and then suddenly fell apart one day; and all-glass silicone sealed tanks were too much like magic tricks for many of us to believe they could ever hold water.

But, as John says, slate has been used for years (and I must admit that John must be older than I as I never actually had slate-bottomed tanks !!!) without any noticeable effect from iron.

@DJK…..I’m not sure to what concentration level the chelators in the water treatments are effective. There are some metals that really do need to be removed eg chromium and cadmium (and ferrous iron can help with that anyway).
As to whether or not overdose on chelating agents (which may be EDTA or a secret ingredient) in water conditioners is a matter of debate. I think that there needs to be certain concentration of iron in the water (freshwater in this case…I’m not gonna comment too much on saltwater) to aid in effective redox balance.

Iron in the tank can, however, give a rather nasty smell. I’m presently using that JBL planting stuff, and boy does cleaning filters make a pong of ‘irony’ smells.

The complete story of Iron is, as with most things, quite complex.
That, as usual, makes comments either too complex or overly simplified (to the stage of being incorrect).

And, to add yet another ‘as usual’, the case of iron is a matter of balance and to avoid fixations on singular chemical entities or parameters.

And with fish (or other aquatic species) there is an added difficulty in that the iron may be within their ‘exchangeable’ surroundings. eg iron is all around the fish in the water and may be exchanged readily across gills; in us humans our contact with iron is under the easy control of what we eat and drink.

Iron is important in water and vitally important biological systems, but it is toxic (to animal and plants) above certain concentrations and it needs to be in the correct form to be either beneficial or toxic.

A lot of the iron in normal aquarium water (ie in oxygen and pH parameters normally experiencing in a fish tank) may not be of a biologically useful form. There is evidence that boney fish (at least) can absorb soluble ferrous iron in their gills.

In the tank (and within biochemical systems), it forms a very important part of the complete redox potential yet its useful availability is affected by the redox potential.

Iron is effective in lowering the concentration of various components that may ordinarily be either toxic or have a negative effect on the water.

In the realms of toxicology, we say that everything is a poison and that it is the dose that counts.

ian

That's very interesting Ian . Kinda has arguments for and against . As my chemist friend told me when in collage he looked at the warnings on chemicals and all say if you get it in your eye rince out with water. And when he looked up the warnings for water you must also rince out your eye with water if it gets in it

alan.s wrote:

That's very interesting Ian . Kinda has arguments for and against . As my chemist friend told me when in collage he looked at the warnings on chemicals and all say if you get it in your eye rince out with water. And when he looked up the warnings for water you must also rince out your eye with water if it gets in it

Yep. When we had to write out a COSHH form for any chemical I used in the lab, water in the eye needed to washed out with loadsa water. !!!