Aquarium Rocks

[ShinySideUp]

I live in Cornwall, my access to granite is unbounded, my house is built on it, the hills are made of it and the ground is littered with pieces both small and stupendously large but I don't want to use granite in my new tank. It's heavy (oh so heavy) and I've seen quite enough of it for now. What else can I use for tank decoration? Preferably it will be light as 800 litres of water plus the tank is already heavy enough, it might have some different colours. Is there anyway of knowing if any particular type of rock will leech nasty things in to the water. Are there 'safe' types of rock -- sandstone, quartz, what?

I'd like a whole wall of rock but the weight bothers me, it's against glass after all and rock and glass, you know, people on glass houses shouldn't throw stones etc. Would pumice (lava rock) leech stuff into the water?

Anyone know of a site that explains these things in detail?

 

[CJH0825]

Here is the US we have what are called ditch run offs. They use regular rock that goes through a crusher and breaks it into smaller pieces. What I did was went along the side of the road, Found 20 or 30 pieces of the rock, Brought it home, Looked it over and washed it really good. I let dry completely and then examined it a little more for any dirt I may have missed. I placed them in my tank to create caves and what not. Regular rock works great! It gives it a natural look. I would say, with water and rock decor, my 55g tank weighs apprx. 650lbs. I did the same in my 20g kribensis tank and it looks wonderful ( my kribensis tank is in my signature ). That tank, with water and rock probably weighs apprx. 300lbs. 
 
As far as lava rock goes, I know nothing about it, But I have seen it for sale in a few LFS around here. Be careful with it though as it does have sharp edges ( atleast the pieces I have seen do ).

 

[r.w.girard]

Start here:
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/55806-rocks-for-use-in-the-aquarium/
 
If you still have questions, try posting again.

 

[DrRob]

I really, really want to find the time to rewrite that. It's not wrong (in fact it's generally quite good), it's just not all that good at explaining some of the whys, and people are using all sorts of rocks that aren't on the list these days.
 
Overall SSU it depends a whole load on what you're keeping. In a malawi tank limestone is wonderful stuff, in a discus tank it'll kill everything.
 
Generally, despite your understandable boredom with it as a rock, your average granite is a reliable starter, on the grounds of being generally insoluble and therefore anything trapped in it tends to stay put. Heavier sedimentary rocks can be OK as they tend not to break down. The overall tests, none of which are perfect are as follows.
 
If you can scratch the surface with a blunt object fairly easily when wet (as is scrape a section off, not minuscule scratches) then it'll break down in an aquarium too easily.
 
If you get fiz when you put limescale cleaner on it (or even worse vinegar) then it's not for soft water tanks.
 
If it has obvious veins of red streaking in it or lots of holes leading to crystal bits then it may leech heavy metals into the water, this is where insoluble rocks work well.
 
I'm currently looking at a high flow tank which I'm hoping to scape with granite rolled stones from the garden centre. I get colours that aren't local and a good price, as well as the riverine look of smooth stones.
 
I also have large piles of cotswold limestone in the garden (seriously large, building walls and buildings out of large) and they're crying out to go in a malawi tank, but they won't work in any of my soft water tanks.