# Rocks and Decor



## keighty (Mar 27, 2014)

*Hello all! 
*I'm new to adding natural decor to my tank and have a few questions.

I bought several large plants from Hobby Lobby and I was wondering if these would be safe to put in a tank. 
I make sure they are not the painted ones, but on some of them they have metal wire on the inside that may rust. 
Is this safe, has anyone used these before?

Also I bought these flagstone rocks at Lowes, they have been in there 3 days now and there seems to be a fuzziness growing on them. I soaked, scrubbed them and dried them for days before putting them in. No vinegar test, Can you use any kind of vinegar? Should I take them out or does this happen when you add certain rocks for the first time?

Thank you for your help!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I know a few people that use artificial plants from Hobby Lobby or similar places without any issues. Sometimes they add a dab of fish safe silicone sealant to the end of the wire, let it cure and then place it in the tank.

The fuzziness you are getting on the rocks is common and usually goes away or if you have a bushy nose Plecostomus, they will eat the stuff. Are these natural rocks or man made ones?


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

Yes, any kind of vinegar will work, though the stronger the better. So, I'd go with plain rice vinegar over sushi vinegar, for example, because sushi vinegar is rice vinegar with mirin and stuff added, which dilutes it. But if you have a bottle of balsamic vinegar laying around the kitchen, it'll work fine. That said, fuzziness (unless you mean fizzy bubbles) is not a sign of leaching, as deeda said, it's likely just the microbes in your tank moving onto the new surface.


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## keighty (Mar 27, 2014)

Ok good. I believe they are natural rocks, when I was scrubbing the rocks they never seemed to be clean like I was just wearing it down.


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## ozman (Sep 7, 2012)

whilst i think your tank looks great, i'm sorry to say you will have big problems with ditrius settling down through the stones.
which will undoubtably leed to gas pockets where you don't/ can't clean. at the very least have high nitrates over time.


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