Need help from someone who is knowledgable with beach rocks?

So I got these rocks at my local beach and want to use them in my barebottom tank to anchor down so anubias and Java fern, do they look aquarium safe? I have no experience with using beach rocks in aquariums but I have seen people use them. I have not yet tried the acid test but will. Any idea what kind of rocks these are and if they are safe in a goldfish tank?

 

I cannot identify them for you but a good place to start is pour a little vinegar on them. If they fizz they will affect your pH by increasing alkalinity.

You can also soak them for a few days and monitor water parameters.

That's where I would start but then again I am skittish about adding wild elements period. I prefer to pay to see the words "aquarium safe" on my products haha. Hopefully someone else can help more

 

Advice above, minus putting any chemical on them. Fill a bucket up with water, treat water with conditioner, test water, add rocks, then check water's parameters 24hrs later.

 

I believe white vinegar is perfectly safe for cleaning aquarium items, which is why you'd be all right to do a little vinegar test, I mean don't soak them in it, but a couple drops. I believe this method was recommended to me here, in fact, when I accidentally bought river rocks that were not labeled aquarium safe. Then again I ended up returning them haha. Not that I recommend you put them back in with vinegar all over them, lots of soaking afterward. And air drying. They will likely need to be sterilized somehow and you can't boil rocks so, that's something you might want to look into as well.

 

Should I just use drift wood instead? I've also never used this so I wouldn't know where to start in preping it for my tank lol

 

Well, you'd definitely have a lot more input, being that driftwood is very popular. It's really up to you. Like I said, I don't have experience with anything brought in from the wild, so you may want to wait till someone else chimes in before writing it off. But I love driftwood and, if my KH wasn't so low, I'd use it.

They are quite lovely rocks.

 

If by "Driftwood" you mean some wood also collected from a beach, then I would recommend that you do not use this.
Reasons _ wood is porous ,so could all kinds of poisons inside that will leach into the tank over time
The actual wood itself may be poisonous
If you want/need driftwood, then purchase the specially prepsred and sterilized MorpanI from the LFS

 

If I were to get drift wood it would be from you LFS. They also sell rocks very similar to the ones I got. I'm not really sure if they just collect their natural like supplies or of they get it from a commercial supplier since they are a mom and pop type fish store

 

If I were to get drift wood it would be from you LFS. They also sell rocks very similar to the ones I got. I'm not really sure if they just collect their natural like supplies or of they get it from a commercial supplier since they are a mom and pop type fish store

Weather it be LFS or from the wild, you need to run safety checks. Information is power and there be enough on this forum to get you in the right direction. Fill a bucket with conditioned water, test the conditioned water with every test you have, add the stones, let it sit for a day or however long, then test the water. You'll get a good idea what it will, or won't do to your tank. Your LFS should be able to test the water for you for free.

 

Really good advise from Delta5
Any increase in your PH will mean the stones have a calcious structure, and over a fairly short period of time will raise the PH in the tank to around 8.2.
All stones and wood sold in any LFS should be labeled and packed as "fully sterilized and suitable for fish tank use ",if it has been sourced from a reputable supplier
If it don't measure up to these criteria - don't touch it

 

I basically collect all my rock and wood; as was noted above, information is essential to making good choices.
I collect either from the property around my house, or from around my cottage. In both cases, I know the much more of the history of either, for example whether they have been exposed to herbicides, pesticides, or perhaps the worse, are near any recent or semI recent mining activity, which exposes them to all sorts of heavy metals, such as mercury or arsenic. I have no such idea of what the history of purchased wood is (other than Country of origin, at most), so avoid it (and save a lot of money while at it).
Using vinegar on rocks to detect lime is quite alright, but can be a little tricky, as if the rock has micro-fissures or pits, putting any liquid on those will cause any trapped air to bubble up-still it is a good method, but as with anything intended to be put into an aquarium, after cleaning, putting it in water of known parameters as Delta5 says, and checking to see whether those parameters have changed after a day or 2 is a sure test.
Wood is a bit more tricky, as some must be avoided--I rule out any softwoods, as they tend to have far too much resin to be of use, and rule out any wood showing signs of rot. This leaves me with collecting hardwood from standing deadwood.
Any bark must be removed, and the wood must be sterilized, either by prolonged boiling or baking ( I do about 180 F. for several hours). Sanding and a pressure washer are useful in removing bark, I find.
The wood will be very buoyant, so must be kept submerged in well filtered water for lengthy periods, often months (there are ways to secure buoyant wood, however).
Rock I sterilize just by boiling for several hours, much to my family's amusement---in my defence I tell them that it is what got our ancestors through the potato famine.
As a first way to screen collected woods or rocks, remember that any library will have field guides for both, as anyone who collected rocks as a hobby in their wanton youth will know.-----rick

 

Excellent advice from Ric, the only thing I would add is don't drop rocks into boiling water as any air pockets could cause them to explode, bring them to the boil slowly allowing any air to escape safely