# quarts rock



## Beals (May 12, 2008)

is their anything wrong or chemically wrong with using quarts rock 
sorry for askin a dumb ques but i thought i heard someone say its harmful just askin 
thanks


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## CHBGator (Oct 5, 2006)

yeah make sure there are no Metal veins running through the quartz. The most common mineral is Iron Pyrite . The bad part is that the same bacteria that break down the waste in your fish tank also break down the pyrite which ends with the formation of sulfate. Which you don't want your fish living in. Its the same thing that occurs in old mines and causes acid runoff.


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## BSO (May 14, 2004)

any chemical reaction type of tests for finding heavy metals in quartz or other rock? Don't think looking it over would be the best option considering the health of the whole tank is hanging in the balance.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2008)

Quartz is the most common crystal in the world and is present in beach sand. According to wikipedia the chemical in it is Silica, making it perfectly safe for use in aquariums.

Just make sure that that the rock it "grew" on is inert and safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz


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## swimalong (Feb 9, 2008)

The quartz i was recently looking at seemed terrible for aquarium use - lots of little flecks of metallic pieces that easily came off the rocks - reddish, yellow and silver colors through it.

Maybe some variations are better than others, but I would stay away from it. I've heard a good idea is using rock that is absent of any color streaks.

You can't always trust 'wikipedia' either


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2008)

swimalong said:


> The quartz i was recently looking at seemed terrible for aquarium use - lots of little flecks of metallic pieces that easily came off the rocks - reddish, yellow and silver colors through it.
> 
> Maybe some variations are better than others, but I would stay away from it. I've heard a good idea is using rock that is absent of any color streaks.
> 
> You can't always trust 'wikipedia' either


Wikipedia is a lot more reliable than other online sources, false information once reported is removed asap, and all information on there is sourced from legitimate websites, usually university websites...

Quartz is perfectly safe for aquariums. It is silica based, and as long as it doesn't have metal flakes or any other suspicious impurities it is safe for aquaiums...


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## swimalong (Feb 9, 2008)

True, there is a lot of bad info out there...
Well the quartz i recently looked at seemed kinda harsh, like I said lots of metally shiny flakes coming off it and orange rusty marks, never know it could have been okay but i prefer to stay on the safe side I guess, and I chose another type for my setup.


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2008)

swimalong said:


> True, there is a lot of bad info out there...
> Well the quartz i recently looked at seemed kinda harsh, like I said lots of metally shiny flakes coming off it and orange rusty marks, never know it could have been okay but i prefer to stay on the safe side I guess, and I chose another type for my setup.


I think that was a good move... Really the only kind of metal that is safe for aquariums is Iron (rust) that is present on rocks. It is still best you get as much off as possible but what it will do is slowly dissolve, and any dissolved iron will be used by either plants, algae, or be taken out with water changes...


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