Live Rock?

[WoodenChair]

Please. Do not boil your rocks, i would hate to see you be the 1 in 100 people that get dead from it.

"what is that chair talking about this time?!?" you may ask.


Well what happens is (especially in the winter months) water, trapped inside the stones that you collect outside, begins to expand when being boiled, and if that high pressure steam cannot escape, then... well.

--If you light a fire cracker in the palm of your hand, chances are, when it explodes, it will sting, at best
--Close your hand around that same fire cracker... The missus will be opening your ketchup from now on.


Google it, you wont have a hard time finding a list of casualties and police reports on related incidents.

"That is preposterous senior chair"

No... It is not.


If you HAVE to boil your rocks, bake them first at around 125F for an hour or so first, so that water will slowly (and hopefully) evaporate out, and at WORST, your oven will take the shrapnel, not your face.


The extent of my rock cleaning is an old brush, hot tap, and vinegar test on rocks that look "sketchy"


Just a heads up. (I don't want to see anyone get hurt)


-ChairmanWood

 

[fatheadminnow]

Please. Do not boil your rocks, i would hate to see you be the 1 in 100 people that get dead from it.

"what is that chair talking about this time?!?" you may ask.


Well what happens is (especially in the winter months) water, trapped inside the stones that you collect outside, begins to expand when being boiled, and if that high pressure steam cannot escape, then... well.

--If you light a fire cracker in the palm of your hand, chances are, when it explodes, it will sting, at best
--Close your hand around that same fire cracker... The missus will be opening your ketchup from now on.


Google it, you wont have a hard time finding a list of casualties and police reports on related incidents.

"That is preposterous senior chair"

No... It is not.


If you HAVE to boil your rocks, bake them first at around 125F for an hour or so first, so that water will slowly (and hopefully) evaporate out, and at WORST, your oven will take the shrapnel, not your face.


The extent of my rock cleaning is an old brush, hot tap, and vinegar test on rocks that look "sketchy"


Just a heads up. (I don't want to see anyone get hurt)


-ChairmanWood

Very good point.

I guess I will wait for summer than.

That way the summer heat will have the water out of the rock by then.

Thanks for that info!
-FHM

 

[rdd1952]

Do you know what the GH & KH of you tap and tank water are? The amount the pH will drop is all determined by the buffering capacity of your water. If it is very low, then it will possibly drop up to a full point. If it is high, you probably will notice little to no change.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Do you know what the GH & KH of you tap and tank water are? The amount the pH will drop is all determined by the buffering capacity of your water. If it is very low, then it will possibly drop up to a full point. If it is high, you probably will notice little to no change.

I do not know the GH or KH, I do not have a test kit to test these parameters, but if I had to guess I would say they are pretty low where I live.

We have hard water, soft water and RO water at my house, and I use the soft water for my tank.

-FHM

 

[Truck]

why buy live rock to put in your tank? when there are other types of rock? you will be killing not only bacteria but inverts too

 

[rdd1952]

For the fish you are keeping, I think you would be better off with the hard water. It's not always the case but as a general rule, hard water also has a high buffering capacity. If that's the case, then using the hard water would keep the pH much more stable and less likely to be moved by wood or rocks.

 

[fatheadminnow]

For the fish you are keeping, I think you would be better off with the hard water. It's not always the case but as a general rule, hard water also has a high buffering capacity. If that's the case, then using the hard water would keep the pH much more stable and less likely to be moved by wood or rocks.

Okay, I will have to do a couple test then with the different types of water. I will get a test kit for GH & KH and test the water from the two different sources.

why buy live rock to put in your tank? when there are other types of rock? you will be killing not only bacteria but inverts too

Not quite sure I understand what you are saying...sorry.

You mean I should not be rock? But there are different types of rock I can get?

Thanks again for your replies!
-FHM

 

[Truck]

you stated in your title Live rock, which will only be live in salt water if you put live rock into freshwater all of the bacteria, and inverts including (corals, pods etc) will be killed. not worth it

 

[fatheadminnow]

well rock you get from outside isn't live rock. Just boil rock from outside to make it safe.

Okay thanks.

I know its not live rock, I just referred to it as "live" rock (note the quotation marks), to imply that it was not store bought.

Thanks again, that is what I thought...boil it.
Thanks
-FHM

Truck,

I know it is not Live rock for a SW tank,.... but "live" rock that I can collect outside and not buy at my LFS.

-FHM

 

[Truck]

okay sorry

 

[fatheadminnow]

okay sorry

Thats okay man!

I should of made myself more clear when I first posted this thread!

No hard feelings!
-FHM

 

[nosoup4you]

I never boil rocks for my tanks...I give them a good clean in hot water and chuck them in. I have never had any problems. If you are still hesitant, you could always bleach them (20 parts water to one part bleach). If you go the bleach route, soak them in clean water and lots of dechlor for 24 hours after the bleach bath.

 

[fatheadminnow]

why buy live rock to put in your tank? when there are other types of rock? you will be killing not only bacteria but inverts too

He didn't mean LR in the sense that you are thinking...he meant found rock. lol

I guess I should of used that instead of "live" rock to prevent all of this confusion...lol

-FHM

 

[fatheadminnow]

I never boil rocks for my tanks...I give them a good clean in hot water and chuck them in. I have never had any problems. If you are still hesitant, you could always bleach them (20 parts water to one part bleach). If you go the bleach route, soak them in clean water and lots of dechlor for 24 hours after the bleach bath.

Okay I will take that into consideration! Thanks.

Okay, so if when I add the wood and the ph drops a lot, more than the desired level for my fish, what would be ways to raise it, other than the use of chemicals?

What kind of rocks?

Crushed corral, does that work as well?

Just trying to get back to my first question a little, as there was a lot of confusion/other discussions through out this thread...lol...but there is a lot of good info I must add.

Thanks again guys!
-FHM

 

[Scott MacAdam]

I've never boiled rocks either.... If I found some I liked I would take them home, soak them in hot water, scrub them a little to get any dirt and such off... and then in the tank with them.... although, if you are not so sure about the limestone, vinegar will help you determine those.