Aquarium Rocks

[Jouncsen Xie]

I had these rocks given to me but I do not know if they were in a saltwater or freshwater aquarium before. Can I put a rock from a saltwater aquarium into a freshwater aquarium? Also, what kind of rock is this? Is it safe?

 

[fjh]

They look like live rock (well, now dead haha) from a saltwater tank. You can use them jn freshwater tanks though, but they will make your water pretty hard. They are great for african cichlids .

 

[Ms rose]

This has always made me wonder, could i potentially put in live rock and live sand in a freshwater tank to cycle it? And if not what about dead rock alone? Who does it change water chemisty?

 

[fjh]

This has always made me wonder, could i potentially put in live rock and live sand in a freshwater tank to cycle it? And if not what about dead rock alone? Who does it change water chemisty?

No, live rock/sand dies if you put it in fresh water. It does not harbor BB. If you want to use live rock in a FW tank, you still need to cycle your tank.
It does mess with your chemistry a bit. Basically the oppisite of driftwood. It will release minerals into your water and raise your ph.

 

[Ms rose]

Hmm, this could be a great thing for my snail tank, its cycling now with pure bottled ammonia, where could i get some dead rock lol. And if my tap is about 7.2 ph would it get me to 8.2 or less?
SORRY op, I hope you don't mind me hijacking you post, I will not ask anything else here, just curious to know how dead rock effects fw tank. Hope you don't mind

 

[Jouncsen Xie]

Can I put it in my FW aquarium? Would it be safe? Or would I have to boil it.

 

[Ms rose]

I would boil it to be safe, but from the sounds of it, it's ok to put in fw as long as your ok with a hardness rise. I'm just learning this so I'm not 100 percent sure if boiling will prevent this from happening, hmm, I can't imagine boiling would stop it from tpraising the hardness of the water but boiling will kill anything harmful for the tank.

 

[Jouncsen Xie]

Mmm okay thanks!

I would boil it to be safe, but from the sounds of it, it's ok to put in fw as long as your ok with a hardness rise. I'm just learning this so I'm not 100 percent sure if boiling will prevent this from happening, hmm, I can't imagine boiling would stop it from tpraising the hardness of the water but boiling will kill anything harmful for the tank.

Making the hardness rise means the pH is rising so if I just put some API pH lower then wouldn’t it be fine?

 

[Ms rose]

Yes ph is what im talking about, but yes thats fine. Higher ph isnt bad unless you need it lower, but what you asked is fine, it will be just fine. Just keep eyes on ph, good luck. Be sure to boil and cool first befor adding to tank, but once they are in im sure they will look great