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November 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| clean rocks and sticks
im going to use my spare already cycled 10 gallon tank to house a puffer. I went to my backyard and found some cool rocks to make a hiding spot. how do i clean these? simply boil them in water for a bit? | 
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November 6th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Boiling them will sterilize them.
You can check the rocks by putting a little muriatic acid or vinegar on them. If it bubbles, you shouldn't use them. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it can alter your pH.
The stick will probably not sink. You can boil them to sterilize and get as much tannic acid out as you can. This can lower your pH and can discolor your water. Some people like the yellowish tint it gives.
Keeping up with water changes and using carbon will help and overtime less tannins will leach out.
Here's a sticky that might help: Drift wood notes
Last edited by Lucy; November 6th, 2009 at 12:38 PM.
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November 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| In addition to Lucy's advice above...
If the sticks/wood you pick up are not true driftwood, I'm pretty sure that they will eventually rot and crumble when submersed for an extended period of time. It'll make one heck of a mess in your tank. I'd stay away from just picking up sticks in the backyard....IMHO | |
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November 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Speaking as a geologist, there are any number of rocks that will not fizz in acid but are still harmful. Basically, if it is not quartz, hornblende, pyroxene or feldspar (minerals), granite, or gneiss, you may be asking for trouble. Some slate is fine, some is not. If you live near a college/university with a geology department, run it by there for an ID - just call ahead and you will get a friendly reception 99.9% of the time. By the way, when I say granite, there is a whole group of rocks that are called differerent names but the layman would call them granite - such as syenite, diorite, gabbro, and monzonite. Gneiss has the same composition but is banded. | |
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November 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by cryptfan  Speaking as a geologist, there are any number of rocks that will not fizz in acid but are still harmful. Basically, if it is not quartz, hornblende, pyroxene or feldspar (minerals), granite, or gneiss, you may be asking for trouble. Some slate is fine, some is not. If you live near a college/university with a geology department, run it by there for an ID - just call ahead and you will get a friendly reception 99.9% of the time. By the way, when I say granite, there is a whole group of rocks that are called differerent names but the layman would call them granite - such as syenite, diorite, gabbro, and monzonite. Gneiss has the same composition but is banded. | Wow. Thanks for the educated information. | |
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November 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Fishers Island is probably a glacial deposit - I know Long Island is! So your rock could have come from anywhere between the south shore Of Connecticutt and the north shore of Canada! At the very least, I would check out a book on rocks from the local public library - the Dewey decimal number will be in the 550s - and try to ID the rocks. Who knows, you may also develop a new hobby! Actually, I got into geology through my first aquarium. My parents bought a used outfit for me from a coworker of my father's, and in it was a rock with loads of fossils. As soon as I could drive I looked all over the area for the source of that rock. I never found it, but got hooked on the rocks!!! | |
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