Landscape Stone?

[chebert22]

I was thinking.... (I know, dangerous situation this late at night, or early in the morning whichever it is....)

Can you put natural stone in an aquarium?

As in natural sandstone? We have friends who live in the country and he has large sand stones that would fit pefect in my new big tank, all over in his pasture. Alls I'd have to do is just go get them.

If I rinsed them really really well, and then soaked them in water for a week or two, would it be safe to put them in there?

Or what about large river rock from a landscape place?

[fatfutures]

Well, I've got black flagstone in one of my tanks... no problems there.

[Vivarium Concepts]

Chris,
we hit the rock yard and get what is called 'Moss Rock', it's a sand stone with moss and lichen growth on it. We use these in our water features. I doubt you will want these as the moss and lichen will 'melt' when totally submerged. You do want to be careful as some sandstone will have lime/limestone in it, so this will affect your PH. You can check by pouring some vineger on the rock, if it fizzes then there is limestone in it.
Being in Ft. Worth, there is a huge rock yard over your way, I haven't had enough coffee yet to remember the name but I'll get back to you on that.
We use the river rock which is multi colored, and also the Mexican beach pebbles that are dark grey to black.
So to answer your question, yes you can use natural stone in your tank. You do want to check to see if it will affect your PH though and there are a couple of different ways to do this. One is to get a glass container large enough to set the rock in. Then take some water and measure the PH of the water to get your baseline reading, then pour the water over the rock, try to submerge as much of the rock as possible. Let it sit for at leat 24 hours, then measure the PH of the water in the bowl. And there is the vineger trick.
When I go to the rock yard, I take a small container of vineger with me.

[rolloffhill]

Whiz-Q stone on 820?

[Vivarium Concepts]

DING DING DING That is the corect answer!
Thanks Skipp!

[kewlkatdady]

I got this river rock at whiz-q...
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/kewlkatdady/58.jpg

Hell all I did was rinse them off with the water hose and chunked them in.

[FishGurl721]

I got this river rock at whiz-q...
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/kewlkatdady/58.jpg

Hell all I did was rinse them off with the water hose and chunked them in.

wheres the fishies..??:confuzeld: :confused:

[kewlkatdady]

well in that pic there are only 7 fishies...
Now there are 11

[chebert22]

ooooh i like that tank! I guess i'll be visiting Whiz-Q soon! And its less than 1/2 a mile from my house! Whoo-hooo.

[greeneyed]

Shouldn't the rocks be boiled prior to inclusion into the tank?

[fatfutures]

I've never boiled the rocks in any of my tanks. No problems here... just give em a good washing and chunk em in (LIGHTLY chunk em)

[Vivarium Concepts]

I thought this thread might be helpful to some.

http://forum.aquatic-gardeners.org/viewtopic.php?t=56

[Jim2982]

I didn't boil any of my rocks, either. All my rocks are natural limestone that I picked up from various quarries I go to for work. I soaked them in a mixture of 1 part bleach to 3 parts water for 30 minutes and then rinsed them off. And I have to credit my mom for this novel idea, she suggested I put them in the dishwasher with no soap to rinse the bleach off. It worked like a charm! And then into the aquarium they went.

[chebert22]

JIM! Hook a brotha up with the stone man!

[arnold]

How much is the river rock?

[kewlkatdady]

$.20/lb
I spent like $30 on all this:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/kewlkatdady/58-1.jpg

this tank is 36x18

[bra8ndy8]

There's the fish!!! Better picture....you can see them in there!!!

[China8USA]

Stone and rock yards or quarries or whatever they are.. they are a great deal. I got a bunch of low grade holey rock for 7 bucks a while back.

[mike]

are they glued together or just sitting like that ,, i want to make a big structure like that but dont want it to fall adn break something lol

[kewlkatdady]

these are not glued...
I've never glued rocks but I understand why some people would.

I like the ability to move them once I get bored.

[fishcrazy]

Saw a post here about stone yards having holey rock pretty cheap sometimes. I am in the process of thinking up a aquascape for my new larger tank that I am in the process of talking my hubby into getting.. :hehe:

Is that the name the stone yard uses for this rock, holey rock??? Just want to be sure to ask for the right thing.... and is it something that will mess with the PH level. Will I have to monitor it more frequently than normal? I have only used the resin type decor in the past in smallish tanks and want to create a really nice natural scape this go round. TIA for all your help! :D

[Vivarium Concepts]

Holey rock is limestone, so yes it will raise your PH.

[rolloffhill]

I don't think you are going to find good quality of holey rock at a stone yard. I didn't and brought a bunch home anyway. I still have it and would actually sell it cheaper than what I paid at whiz-q. I got my show quality pieces at LFS'

[EAST_TX_RN]

I went to a stone-yard in Garland after they told me they had at least a ton of it. Well, out of about 3-4 tons of holey-rock, there might have been 2 or 3 good pieces, but I would have had to climb over and move the crappy ones. Wasn't worth the trouble! I wound up buying mine on Ebay, but it was not clean. Spend the extra money at a LFS that has decent prices, it will be worth it.

[kewlkatdady]

When I first set up my 125...I tried to be cheap...I went to a rock yard and picked throught their holey rock.

It didn't take long for me to realize that the rock yard rock just isn't as pretty as the rock at LFS...

I got rid of most of the rock yard rock for show pieces.

[xtc]

I plan on redesigning my Malawi tank soon, I'll be moving away from Holy rock all together- I think.

You can clearly see the dif between rock yard rock and LFS rock.

[Vivarium Concepts]

A lot of the LFS get their stone from Feller Stone via local distributors.


http://www.fellerstone.com/landscapebuildingstone/boulders/

[dcacjc]

What are you going to go with Chris?

[fishyjoe24]

there a guy on craigslist.org selling 100 pounds of it for $100.00

[xtc]

not sure- I'm looking for a new look, we'll see. I have a couple other projects in front of that.

What are you going to go with Chris?

[Shayman10]

I have been buying all my holey rock from Aquatic Design for 1.50 per lb. Seems like a good deal. They always have some really nice pieces.

[fishyjoe24]

I have been buying all my holey rock from Aquatic Design for 1.50 per lb. Seems like a good deal. They always have some really nice pieces.

aquatic design is a good place, but what i notetic is they don't sell much driftwood.