Use of rocks in your aquarium

Good morning!

Couple of questions regarding the use of rocks in your aquarium. If you wish to maintain a low pH, how do you know a rock you want to use is "safe", in the sense it won't affect your pH? As far as I know you must pour an acid on it, if it makes bubbles, it will lift your pH. Am I correct in saying this? If yes, is vinegar a strong enough acid to test this effectively?

Secondly: What cleaning procedures must you follow before adding rocks to your tank?

Thanks a million!

 

The owner at my local fish shop said that one could use vinegar to test it.
You can also use sera ph minus I think. Not shure on the ph minus

 

Vinegar works...but I have always used a drop of pool acid for this test. Much easier to see if a reaction takes place. As for cleaning... I just tackle them with a scrubbing brush and water - never been much of a "Rock boiler"...lol

 

i'v got some white boulders i picked up on the beach in swakopmund i want to use in my blackwater setup will try this vinegar thing today

 

How did this work out for you oscar freak? I saw some nice boulders / large pebbles on the beach at Strand the weekend... forgot to take some home....

How would beach and river stones be bacterial wise?

 

havent had a chance been busy testing everything else will do it today

 

@PappaBear - Some good old pool acid will give you a much better reaction with the calcium in the rock. Common household white vinegar (well the vinegar I tested) only contained about 5% acetic acid so its actually pretty weak when your'e talking about acids. Why don't you soak your rocks in a bucket of water and monitor the pH over a period of a week or two. This should give you a pretty good indication on how the rocks will affect your system's pH. For your question on bacteria, if you want to be sure there are no little micro-organisms there to mess with your fish just give it a good boil.. think about it.. UHT milk is processed at 121.1[SUP]o[/SUP]C and that stuff is sterile!! You wont be able to reach that temp at home but 100[SUP]o[/SUP]C should kill pretty much anything on the rock except for thermophiles (organisms that can withstand extreme temperatures). HTH!!