Which River Rock Is Better? [POLL]

[Rocky998]

So I'm rescaping my aquarium and I'm wondering which is better in your guys' opinion, the multicolored beach/river stones or just the grey river rocks... Just in case it matters I will have a mix of black sand and the normal pool filter sand as well as a black background...

 

[itiwhetu]

Why don't you just leave your tank alone for now and enjoy your fish. I wouldn't be putting your fish under any stress, plus they produce fry so they must be pleased with what they have.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Cause color in rocks could point towards metals and such I'd go for grey.

 

[Naughts]

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Leave the aquarium alone. Fish are healthy & happy enough to get jiggy with it, so why induce stress and confusion by altering everything around....if it ain't broke stop trying to fix it

If, by chance, you cannot stop fiddling with things, why not rearrange of your room instead of fiddling with the aquarium or go rearrange the garden or something?

Park the bottom, relax and watch the hooligans in the aquarium.....resist the urge to fiddle with it

 

[Back in the fold]

Which is better ? It's what makes you smile ! Half the fun of an aquarium is decorating it to your liking.

 

[Rocky998]

I'm afraid as my gudgeons grow they will keep trying to get inside the rocks they are used to which is the dragon rock... I dont want them getting cut up... Also my tank looks bad so its a win win lol... I'm going to be getting a lot more plant coverage as well so it's nit just rocks.

 

[Rocky998]

Cause color in rocks could point towards metals and such I'd go for grey.

Thanks! Thats good advice!


I always thought those beach stones were completely inert and didnt leach anything out... I think @AquaBarb uses them in his Rio tanks...

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I'm afraid as my gudgeons grow they will keep trying to get inside the rocks they are used to which is the dragon rock... I dont want them getting cut up... Also my tank looks bad so its a win win lol... I'm going to be getting a lot more plant coverage as well so it's nit just rocks.

You are someone who will never be satisfied

Constant fiddling with the scaping will lead to stressed out fish and potentially sick fish...little wonder that they find the tiniest hiding place when you keep sticking hands into their home and messing about with it.

They have already proved that they were not stuck like you assumed they were. As they grow, those niggly little gaps and holes will not be accessed by them anyway.

Those poor fish do not get 5 minutes peace when you are about poking and faffing about with things. It's not funny Rocky so I really do not think you should treat it as such with you "lol". One day you will go too far and inadverently introduce something toxic into their water with all your hands in the aquarium antics and if that ever does happen you will be devastated and you know it.

Wait til the Gudgeons have passed away of old age before changing the scape again, leave them be and resist the urge to fiddle.

 

[Rocky998]

You are someone who will never be satisfied

Constant fiddling with the scaping will lead to stressed out fish and potentially sick fish...little wonder that they find the tiniest hiding place when you keep sticking hands into their home and messing about with it.

They have already proved that they were not stuck like you assumed they were. As they grow, those niggly little gaps and holes will not be accessed by them anyway.

Those poor fish do not get 5 minutes peace when you are about poking and faffing about with things. It's not funny Rocky so I really do not think you should treat it as such with you "lol". One day you will go too far and inadverently introduce something toxic into their water with all your hands in the aquarium antics and if that ever does happen you will be devastated and you know it.

Wait til the Gudgeons have passed away of old age before changing the scape again, leave them be and resist the urge to fiddle.

This will be the very last time I fiddle... And I actually havn't "fiddled" with the setup since I went searching for the gudgeons when I got concerned... This is to change the rocks for safety reasons and also asthetics... I recently did a 50% water change and had to trim back the roots on the ferns and remove a few bad leaves which did change up the look a bit from when I took photos for the TOTM... But I have been keeping the lights off to get rid of all the algae and get the java ferns back to being themselves... The fish are extremely healthy right now but I really really want to change up the rocks before getting shrimps, snails, and the rasboras... Less fish in the tank while changing the scape would be wayyy better than 11 fish in an aquarium and changing up a scape... Once I'm done i think you will see what I did is actually really good. I'm getting 3 large anubias plants, 3 tiger lotus, and 5 more java ferns... I already know where I want to place everything so it'll be fairly quick... The fish will be placed in a black bucket with some of the dragon rocks and a few baby java ferns as I do the re-scape... Fish are always swimming to new areas in the wild and I feel bad for getting them these rocks now so I want them to have a new place to explore and a safer one... I know you have more experience but I am asking you to trust me on this one...

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Fine....

You go ahead and mess up the aquarium again. You go ahead and stress the fish out catching them again and moving them again.

But.....DO NOT start a new thread with "My fish are sick" or "My fish are dying"

Cos you know what...it will be history repeating itself Rocky...you did this when you couldn't find them and you were told to leave them alone but you just had to mess about in the aquarium, moving their territory and stressing them out.

If you have an algae issue...do as you have been told many many times...drop the lighting times, drop the lighting intensity, don't overfeed, use something like Clearmax in the filter (Google that, its made by Fluval and very good at clearing algae and silicate/phosphates)

People who as you say are more experienced have helped you so much yet you still do things your way. And you wonder why people get cross and impatient with you.

 

[Rocky998]

catching them again and moving them again.

Never caught them and moved them before... So I cant do it "again".

mess up the aquarium again.

When did I meds it up in the first place?

you did this when you couldn't find them and you were told to leave them alone but you just had to mess about in the aquarium, moving their territory and stressing them out.

It may have stressed them but they were missing for 5 days at the time so me and ithers were worried. If my memory is alright I'm pretty sure others on here even said to search for them because they were missing for so long...

If you have an algae issue...do as you have been told many many times

Like I said the lights are all off... And plus, when was it told "many times"... I remember you saying it once and only once but that was for stress reasons not algae so again with the "agains" lol...

People who as you say are more experienced have helped you so much yet you still do things your way. And you wonder why people get cross and impatient with you.

If I was impatient and did things my way all my fish would be died... I wont lie about that. If I was impatient I would have not cycled my tank for 100 days and started a journal and do a ton of research. I could have just gotten bored with the cycle and get some fish... But I didn't... In fact people on here said for me just to get fish but I waited another week or so to make sure the tank was good.

Sometimes people with years of advice have recommended me to do something but I didn't do it BECAUSE I literally just couldnt do it... And guess what? Everything was fine. I'm not saying that to be rude or anything but I am saying it just to say that sometimes you dont have to go by the book. Sometimes things can and will work out... And this is one of these things I KNOW will work out

 

[StevenF]

The color os the rock does not matter. You cannot tell if a rock is safe by looking at it. You need to test it. Put water in a bucket with a little distilled vinegar and measure as many water parameters as you can. Preferably, PH, GH , TDS. and then put the rock in. and wait a day and remeasure the same parameters. If there is no change the rock is probably OK. If not don't use it. Also if the stone immediently starts tofu when first placed in the bucket it also cannot used in the tank.

 

[Rocky998]

The color os the rock does not matter. You cannot tell if a rock is safe by looking at it. You need to test it. Put water in a bucket with a little distilled vinegar and measure as many water parameters as you can. Preferably, PH, GH , TDS. and then put the rock in. and wait a day and remeasure the same parameters. If there is no change the rock is probably OK. If not don't use it. Also if the stone immediently starts tofu when first placed in the bucket it also cannot used in the tank.

Yeah I will do that.... I know that most all beach and river stones from lowes are inert so I'm not too worried

 

[GaryE]

Gold nuggets might come in handy, if they are the rocks lying around in your river...

You could use them to buy the many tanks you clearly need (said the man with an entire fishroom). I get that nurge to upgrade or update or downgrade or mess up while improving tanks. You just can't sustain it with only one tank!

Tomorrow when the weather improves I'll take a walk along the local beach looking for weathered and rounded grey rocks.