"ocean" Rocks And Driftwood In Aquarium?

[Noahsfish]

Ok, so today I was at the beach and came home with a ton of small pieces of driftwood and small rocks or pebbles. I was planning on having them go in my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank. Let me get this straight, the rocks aren't coral rocks, they're just regular stones washed up. The driftwood is white, and one of the pieces is very small and brown with some of it's bark still on. Could I put any of these in my aquarium? I know you have to either boil and or soak most pieces of driftwood, but what about the rocks? My main concern is how I would get the salt out. With the wood could I just boil it and then put it straight in? How long should I boil it for? The rocks? Unless it's an absolute no please no "I wouldn't risk its" lol, these are some of the nicest pieces of dw I've seen on the beach for years, it'd be a shame if I couldn't use them, thanks.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm not going to give you a straight NO, except to this:
 
 
DON'T BOIL THE ROCKS!!!  Feel free to take the rocks and POUR BOILING WATER OVER THEM!  But, DON'T boil them!  There have been cases where the rocks have actually EXPLODED during this process.  Depending on the stones, they can be safe after a good rinse and a dip in boiling water.
 
 
As for the driftwood:  This is where I would draw the line.  There would be some situations where I would use the driftwood, and there would be some instances where I wouldn't. 
 
So, what are the tanks that you plan to use these pieces?  What's the stocking for this tank(s)?

 

[Noahsfish]

Well for the 2.5 it may be housing tiger shrimp but at the moment it has red cherry shrimp.

Oh and the other tanks that may be a possibility would be either a tank with harlequin rasboras, or a tank with cardinals and corycats.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

NO!  Not with the corycats!
 
 
The reason I asked is because the wood will have quite a bit of residual salt inside and will take a long time for the salt to work its way out of the wood.  The tank needs to be able to deal with that salt.  I was thinking that if it was an African cichlid tank, or livebearers, etc. that they would be fine with the salt, and you'd just want to do more frequent water changes for a while to remove the excess... 
 
 
BUT, cories are NOT good to mix with salt. 

 
 
Not sure about the shrimp... (I wouldn't risk it!    Seriously though... I wouldn't.)  They might be ok with it... but I'd have a LONG search around the internet to find out about impact of salt and shrimp... specie specific if possible.

 

[Noahsfish]

Ugh, thanks a lot, I'm soooo glad I didn't just boil it and put it in with my beloved corys . What about the rocks though? As I said they're different colors with some being solid green and others with multiple colors.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Depends on their porosity.  More porous rocks will be holding more salt inside them.  Non-porous rocks won't.  Porous rocks - no.  Non-porous rocks - yes.  (Same reasons as the driftwood.)

 

[Noahsfish]

Hmm, as in Porous you mean holey? Some of the rocks have veins running through them with small crevices, but all are solid without any crevices. How should I clean these? should I soak them in hot water or like you said rinse them with boiling water? Thanks a ton

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Soak them in the boiling water.... let it cool.  "rinse - repeat".
 
 
Porous means holey.  So, if you drop it into a bucket of water, do you see air bubbles coming out of the rock? Lots of them or not so much?  Big or small?

 

[Noahsfish]

I didn't see many buboes if any at all. Is soaking them in hot water good enough or is rinsing with boiling necessary? I put the driftwood to soak in hot water and two of the pieces have tons of bubbles coming out. One of the pieces though, the one that looks like regular wood has no bubbles, when could I put this one in?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Not sure... Have a research of shrimp and salt... It might be ok.

As for the rocks, I'd still soak them in some boiling water, pouring boiling water over the rocks.

 

[Noahsfish]

Well I know that shrimp can stay in a tank be treating for ich with the salt treatment. So does that mean they'd be fine with a bit of ocean salt?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd say that's a fair assumption.