Id these rocks

[Rick bose]

Since my LFS kept on stalling me for 2 weeks but still couldn't get me dragon stone, I decided to buy them online. No other LFS that I know has them too. I purchased these rocks from amazon. I live in India. They were listed as ohko rock on the site. So I thought they will be dragon stone. But got this instead. The pics of the web page showed dragon stones. The pics on the website look entirely different than what I got. I have been searching for dragon stone for quite some time in offline but couldn't find them. They are supposed to be expensive. These rocks are cheap.

They are available at 1/3rd the price of dragon stone. I thought I am getting a huge deal. Anyway as the rocks are much cheaper than dragon stone and I like these too, I would keep them and not return them since I did not even paid the price for dragon stone. So they are not ripping off my money. But still this is extremely misleading & claiming false products, so I would give a bad rating and review. I like the aesthetics of these rocks, so I would use them in my tank and give up my search for dragon stone for now. I would like to know what they are. I rinsed them completely with water and then took the pics.


PS - There is no section to post a thread under any category related to rocks, so I am just posting it in general section. Any moderator can move my thread as he/she deems fit.

 

[John58ford]

Those might be dragon stone as the site claimed. I haven't bought any (I want some but they certainly can be expensive) but when reading I found allot of it will come packed up with clay and rinse out. My neighbor says she soaked and sprayed one for hours and still a day after she put it in the tank found new holes. Did you already wash those stones? Are they light weight like lava rock or pumice or heavier?

 

[Falena]

They look like dragon stone to me!
Dragonstone is very soft and chalky. I believe (as mentioned above) this may be raw and uncleaned, and thats why you got yourself a bargain, it could just need a good scrub.
But it's worth noting that some Dragonstone is not pure and contains other types of rock such as seiryu. So it may be an idea to perform an acid test and keep an eye on your pH and GH , especially so if you're keeping soft water fish and/or shrimp

 

[Rick bose]

Those might be dragon stone as the site claimed. I haven't bought any (I want some but they certainly can be expensive) but when reading I found allot of it will come packed up with clay and rinse out. My neighbor says she soaked and sprayed one for hours and still a day after she put it in the tank found new holes. Did you already wash those stones? Are they light weight like lava rock or pumice or heavier?

I never have seen dragon stone firsthand. I saw tons of their pics online. The pics of the dragon stone I have seen online looks different than the ones I have now. So I thought they are different. I have never seen them before as they are extremely rare here.
I put them into the basin and rinsed them thoroughly. I have not soaked them yet. I just let my tap water ran through them and also used my hands and brush to remove the dirt and soil. Many holes had soil in them. After doing so I clicked the pics.
Are they supposed to have something like choco chips in them as all the rocks that I have are filled with such things but I didn't see anything like that online.

And they are on the heavier side. They sre certainly heavier than lava rocks or pumice rocks. Though I would not say they are extremely heavy like river rocks. They are in the middle.

They look like dragon stone to me!
Dragonstone is very soft and chalky. I believe (as mentioned above) this may be raw and uncleaned, and thats why you got yourself a bargain, it could just need a good scrub.
But it's worth noting that some Dragonstone is not pure and contains other types of rock such as seiryu. So it may be an idea to perform an acid test and keep an eye on your pH and GH , especially so if you're keeping soft water fish and/or shrimp

How to give it a good scrub? Do I need to brush it? Though I have brushed it but not that much. I just brushed it enough to click the pics. So I too know I need to clean it more before putting it inside the tank. So how to give it a good scrub and make it suitable for fish tanks? Do I need to brush them thoroughly or do I need to soak them or do both? Or is there something else required to do?

Aren't seiryu rocks safe for aquarium too?

Anyway, let me tell you what I have in the tank and if you can tell me whether they will be at risk if my ph or gh alters.
I don't have invertebrates or soft fishes in the tank.
Fishes - bronze corydoras & albino bronze corydoras, zebra danios, glofish zebras, rosy barbs, neon peacrox rainbowfish, pearl gourami, red eye tetras, black skirt tetras, zebra loaches.

Plants - dwarf lillies, aponogetons, java fern, java moss, hornwort, bladderwort, hygrophila of various types, don't know their names, anubias barteri, cryptocoryne.

Now can you or anyone tell me whether any of these fishes or plants be sensitive to ph and gh changes? I have a ph test strip but don't have anything to test the gh. At what ph should I be concerned about my tankmates? Can gh cause any issue for my tankmates? Do I have to buy gh test instrument or will it be okay?

I think in these 2 pics you can clearly see that the dragon stones has some other rocks too like you were saying. Some white and black rock can be seen underneath the clay colored layer which I think is another rock. Is this what you were talking about?

 

[Rick bose]

Those might be dragon stone as the site claimed. I haven't bought any (I want some but they certainly can be expensive) but when reading I found allot of it will come packed up with clay and rinse out. My neighbor says she soaked and sprayed one for hours and still a day after she put it in the tank found new holes. Did you already wash those stones? Are they light weight like lava rock or pumice or heavier?

As I said I haven't seen any dragon stones before except pics. The dragon stones that I see on the internet doesn't have small pebbles fused with them. The rocks of mine have small rocks or pebbles fused with them like choco chips. Are some dragon stones supposed to have them? As the dragon stones I see on internet are clean, just the clayey colored structure, nothing in them. But mine are filled with these.
They are on the heavier side like more heavy than lava rocks or pumice rocks but less heavy than river rocks or solid rocks.

I have cleaned them thoroughly. I have brushed them thoroughly, then soaked them in water for 24 hours, then again brushed them and rinsed them thoroughly with water. Though a few small rocks or pebbles have come out, most of them are still fused with the stones.

I don't understand why did you just like my reply without giving a response.

 

[John58ford]

As I said I haven't seen any dragon stones before except pics. The dragon stones that I see on the internet doesn't have small pebbles fused with them. The rocks of mine have small rocks or pebbles fused with them like choco chips. Are some dragon stones supposed to have them? As the dragon stones I see on internet are clean, just the clayey colored structure, nothing in them. But mine are filled with these.
They are on the heavier side like more heavy than lava rocks or pumice rocks but less heavy than river rocks or solid rocks.

I have cleaned them thoroughly. I have brushed them thoroughly, then soaked them in water for 24 hours, then again brushed them and rinsed them thoroughly with water. Though a few small rocks or pebbles have come out, most of them are still fused with the stones.

I don't understand why did you just like my reply without giving a response.

Sorry, I don't always respond the same time I view a response, but did thumb up your response as you included thorough information. I don't give short responses and if I don't have time to give a reply a worthwhile answer, I don't. Yesterday, I was fairly busy.

To test a stone for reactivity, vinegar is my usual recommendation: look for fizz the stones with holes are tricky because you will of course see bubbling from the air pockets. I have seen someone recommend using a couple drops of a reagent from one of the test kits but I don't think that strength of acid is always required.

I am not studied in all the fish you listed, or all the plants you listed. None of them are on my list of sensitive fish, but I also haven't looked into them all to put them there.

As written in my first post, I haven't bought any yet either, I wanted to know if it was heavy to rule out volcanic rocks that would look like your original pictures. I do not think it is just lava rock sold at a crazy mark up if it is heavy.

Hopefully someone that has more experience working with it can tell you more tips/tricks to clean it but I don't have much more here.