Driftwood, Lava Rock And Others

Today I went over a friend's house and he setup a really nice 75gal salt water tank. Couple of clowns, a yellow tang, this red & black fish that perches like a bird (never seen anything like that) a few snails & tiny lobsters. Really beautiful tank.

So he asks me about my 75gal and I show him pics from my phone. He's impressed and asks if it's salt or fresh water. I tell him freshwater and goes " I got a few things you might like from my old freshwater setup. So he gives me a box. Inside the box I find:

3 pieces of old slate (1 large, 2 small)
Chunk of red lava rock
Some sort of white-ish stone
Big piece of driftwood.

He's had these in his freshwater tank for years. Been dried out for close to a year. If I scrub them down good, will they still be safe to use in my tank?

 

If you boil them they will be fine and look nice!

 

If you boil them they will be fine and look nice!

Boiling some stones that are porous can lead to them exploding. IMO a simple scrub down will suffice, since its been out of an aquarium for so long.

 

Thanks! I'm going to just wash it all in hot water and a bucket. Rinse in warm tap, then rinse with tank water. Should be good to go then.

 

*Update*

The white-ish boomerang piece of rock turned out to be cement/concrete as it it leaves a white clouded film on my hand when I was trying to wash it. You can also smell it. I'm not going to put that in my tank. The slabs of old slate, lava rock and driftwood seem safe as washing them left nothing. They were, however, dusty from storage.

 

Yesterday I went to my local HD and picked up two 8" terracotta pots. I'm splitting them down the middle to have 4 half moons. It'll be closer down into the sand and my cichlids would enjoy those more for hide-a-ways. I'm also going to rescape and add the rocks, slate and driftwood. Hopefully this will make the cichlids happier.

 

Well, pretty much done. Swapped out the 4" terracotta pots for the 4" half moons I split from 8" terracotta pots. Added the slate, rocks and driftwood. My fish seem to like it better this way. They're having a ball swimming though all the openings. Plenty of places to hide, plus plenty of swimming room. Win win You may have noticed I'm not a huge plant person. I like my aquariums clean like an industrial warehouse. Simple yet effective.

Of course with a win comes the obligatory Corona & lime

 

OMG! My JohanniI Mbuna (Purple & Black) cichlid male is an excavating genius and it's aggravating the heck out of me. Yes I know they're diggers, but omg he's single handedly excavated just about every crevice of my 75gal tank! That sob has figured a way to excavate a tunnel under the slate slabs so large it's collapsed on itself and it hasn't even been 8 hours since I built it! I had to destroy and close up his digging site and revamp the structure. Then when I catch him in the act he looks oh soo innocent. What a monster!

 

*Update*

My JohanniI Mbuna cichlid has pretty much destroyed my aquascape with his excessive excavating. I've tried different settings, and of course he's just pretty much personalized it in his own way. It's gotten to a point of dangerous that the slate slabs has collapsed onto itself several times. He's even managed to get the giant driftwood to also collapse into the hole he's dug

So I decided to rescape in such a way that if he excavates again, that it will be safe and not collapse. So he can dig to his heart's content and I know he, or any other of my cichlids, will not be crushed. I moved all the sand away from the right side of my tank and placed 2 4" terracotta pots as pillars. The bottom of the pots have been bored out so there's plenty of room for them to swim inside and out safely. I placed the slate slab ontop. Then I moved the sand back into place. I placed the ornaments ontop to give it some character. I also used the 2 smaller slate pieces against the pots so if excaviting starts, the pots won't move/slide causing an implosion/collapse and the fish will be safe. The rest of the tank is the same, so I only took a shot of the new build.

Call me overprotective of my little friends

Let me know what you think.

 

OMG! My JohanniI Mbuna (Purple & Black) cichlid male is an excavating genius and it's aggravating the heck out of me. Yes I know they're diggers, but omg he's single handedly excavated just about every crevice of my 75gal tank! That sob has figured a way to excavate a tunnel under the slate slabs so large it's collapsed on itself and it hasn't even been 8 hours since I built it! I had to destroy and close up his digging site and revamp the structure. Then when I catch him in the act he looks oh soo innocent. What a monster!

OMG!!!! I know how you feel!!!!

 

View attachment 472255

*Update*

My JohanniI Mbuna cichlid has pretty much destroyed my aquascape with his excessive excavating. I've tried different settings, and of course he's just pretty much personalized it in his own way. It's gotten to a point of dangerous that the slate slabs has collapsed onto itself several times. He's even managed to get the giant driftwood to also collapse into the hole he's dug

So I decided to rescape in such a way that if he excavates again, that it will be safe and not collapse. So he can dig to his heart's content and I know he, or any other of my cichlids, will not be crushed. I moved all the sand away from the right side of my tank and placed 2 4" terracotta pots as pillars. The bottom of the pots have been bored out so there's plenty of room for them to swim inside and out safely. I placed the slate slab ontop. Then I moved the sand back into place. I placed the ornaments ontop to give it some character. I also used the 2 smaller slate pieces against the pots so if excaviting starts, the pots won't move/slide causing an implosion/collapse and the fish will be safe. The rest of the tank is the same, so I only took a shot of the new build.

Call me overprotective of my little friends

Let me know what you think.

I like it!!! I think its look good!!!!

 

Thanks Dawn! I know it's solid and won't move, I'll sleep better at night! Forgot to mention I took the driftwood out and placed it in the 40gal. I also rehomed the Tiger barbs back in the 40gal as well. One of my Angels died during the night and I returned the other one back to my lfs. I got a full refund and got a really sweet looking Peacock cichlid to add to the 75gal.

I'm going to get an Albino next

 

Thanks Dawn! I know it's solid and won't move, I'll sleep better at night! Forgot to mention I took the driftwood out and placed it in the 40gal. I also rehomed the Tiger barbs back in the 40gal as well. One of my Angels died during the night and I returned the other one back to my lfs. I got a full refund and got a really sweet looking Peacock cichlid to add to the 75gal.

I'm going to get an Albino next

I understand how you feel about the tank being safe for them. It's important!!! IM sorry to hear about your Angel fish. Do you know what happened??? What does your 40 gal. look like???

 

Thanks! I have no clue. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure it out. My 40 gal isn't too extravagant. AC110 HOB, terracotta 1/2 moons, a few fake plants, blue, lt blue, lt green gravel.

 

It's pretty!!! I like how you have the terracotta pots arranged!!

 

Aw, thanks Dawn! I have a different terracotta layout now. I used those in the pic to redo the 75gal. I'm using the other half moons I cut from the 8" pot and put the driftwood in there too, so it's a little different now.