River Rock

[Amba]

Just curious, there is a river close to my house that has dried up leaving all kinds of really neat shaped rocks and things. There is not any harm in putting regular rocks in your aquarium is there? I have ~100 lbs of live rock already but some of the ones down there are really neat looking. I'm not sure exactly what they're made of, but I'd like to put a few in there if it wouldn't hurt anything.

Just curious if anyone else has done this, base rock can be expensive when you buy a lot of it.

 

[yote]

Rock from a fresh water river or stream isn't safe in a marine tank.
There may be elements and minerals in the rock that could cause problems for saltwater fish and inverts. Things like copper for one.Pollutants that have embedded themselves in the rock are another reason.

Now if it was going in a freshwater tank, I'd say to rinse em off and go for it.

 

[Ted]

Dont do it...There is no telling the make up of the rock. I tried this once was a disaster. Had the worst diatom outbreak every. wouldnt go away. sheets and sheets of it. Once I removed the river rock two week later no diatoms.

 

[yote]

Dont do it...There is no telling the make up of the rock. I tried this once was a disaster. Had the worst diatom outbreak every. wouldnt go away. sheets and sheets of it. Once I removed the river rock two week later no diatoms.

That's because most river rock is sand stone. So it's a silicate based rock and silicates is what fuels the diatoms.

 

[Amba]

Our base rock is usually limestone right?

 

[Ted]

Thats was my thinking when I tried it...I live in south Texas over a friggen aquifer... We have hard water...lime deposits get on everything....was a mess....

 

[d2mini]

Don't do it.

 

[Zissou]

My friend who lives about 40 miles away was complaining about having some major algae/diatom issues with his recently set up tank, after he added some more live rock from some dude on craigslist. I went to check it out and half of the 'live rock' he purchased happened to be giant boulders straight out of an alaska stream. /facepalm

 

[yote]

Our base rock is usually limestone right?

Usually. We do sale some sandstone for freshwater tanks, but all our saltwater rock is limestone.