Lava Rock Help

[louishorton]

setting up a second tank, 146uk gallons.
im wanting to stock it with the normal community tropical fish, nothing special or too expensive. but iv been given a £20 bag of lava rock, quite a few rocks in it, but one person has said lava rock wont go in with the regular tropical fish only things like cichlids, and another have said it will be fine.

also i wanted gravel, but someone else has said sand is better, but id like a planted aquarium and i know myself rooted plants dont go well in sand.

someone go deep into lava rock and sand for me

currently have a 50gallon already set up with plecs, dwarf gourami's, breeding pair gourami.. large shoal of neon tetras.. would be looking at getting similar for my new tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

Most lava rock won't affect pH, but the only way to be sure is to set up two containers, one plain water and one with a bit of rock in it, and test the pH over a few days to see if it changes.

It is too sharp for most tropical fish though. They mostly evolved in rivers with smooth rocks and just don't have the instinct to keep away from it.

I have never had any problems growing plants in sand, but gravel is ok, as long as you're not intending to keep catfish or loaches and you make sure it's 'hoovered' regularly.

Personally, I prefer sand as all the dirt sits on top where it's easy to syphon out, whereas with gravel everything falls through the gaps and gets trapped.