Slate/quartz In My Tank.

[Fwapp]

I've been away camping this weekend, near Tryfan, and bearing in mind I hope to try breding Kribensis, I've brought home some small slates to make some caves in my tank. I've also brought back some lumps of quartz (looks like) that I found in the lake. I'm cleaning them at the moment in the dishwasher with no detergent. I'll then bake them for a couple of hours at 200+ Celsius, to make sure any nasties are dead. My question is will the stone leach anything into the water? If you tell me It'll help bring down my pH, You'll make me quite happy!

 

[Saedcantas]

If the rocks you have are definitely quartz and slate, with no inclusions of other minerals which may react otherwise, they should both be completely safe and unreactive in your tank. Look out for shiny metallic crystals or flecks in the layers of the slate, these are probably sulphate minerals such as Pyrite which are particularly undesirable in your tank. Also, do a scratch test on the rock that you think is quartz, if you can leave a mark on it with a stainless steel knife then it isnt quartz