# Addicted to rocks



## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

Any body else addicted to collecting rocks I thought it was bad enough obsessing over fish all the time now I'm finding myself grabbing rocks from all over I'm a general contractor and do alot of digging for foundations always turning up rocks with amazing color's and patterns in them so I toss them in my truck plus I fave four creek beds on my property so its not like I have a shortage of free rocks plus my current tanks already have rocks in them so I find my self cleaning my new finds and putting them in rubber maid bins for future tanks or when I change things around in my tanks My wife thinks I'm a freak if she could only embrace the hobby as much as me :lol:


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## Tiberian (Jun 14, 2009)

I do the same. I look at rocks in a new way now.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Same here. I see loose rock walls and structures as I'm driving down the street and get aquascaping ideas. I'm going to a landscape yard on my lunch to check out some rocks, and will no doubt be late in getting back to the office. I'm like a kid in a candy store when I go there.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

my wife takes em for the garden...edging


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I'm looking on improving my rock work now. I have the sand in there that I want and now I want to switch up the rock. You guys may laugh but I bought 2 artificial rocks rather large in size from petsmart. I have them catty cornered if I spelled that right in my tank now. I'm going for a more natural look.


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## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

I do the same with rocks and especially driftwood.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

> I do the same with rocks and especially driftwood.
> 
> 
> > question about the drift wood can you use drift wood from the beach if cleaned and maybe silicone it to a piece of flat rock to hold it down in the tank. I read some were that its hard to prepare wood to go in a tank for some reason can't remember were I read that also it has a tendency to lower PH correct.
> ...


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## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

I have used countless pieces of driftwood, with minimal prep work to put it in the tank.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

You have just opened up a whole new avenue for me Also I think I need a few pointers on how to Quote I am a bit challenged by My lap top :lol:


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Riceburner said:


> my wife takes em for the garden...edging


That's where I find the best ones! Bring from the garden...to the tank.

:thumb:


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

I have a couple HUGE limestone rock walls on the way to school and i always wanna stop and get some. But its along the intersate and MY luck i will get busted for stealing.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I bought a load of rocks for 'garden edging' yesterday. I have a feeling I'll have some extras for my tanks.  When I was looking through the different rocks, the priority was what would look good in the tank, not in the yard. :thumb:

Here's a pic. They're pretty dirty so hard to tell, but they're a green color.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Tim ... if any come up missing. I'm too far away to be the culprit 

Just curious, can I ask how much for the pallet load?


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

So where do u live exactly prov?? :lol: Jk.. Yea I would have a feild day with all those rocks.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

I can only dream of the day I have a tank big enough to fit all those babies in :lol: I was reading a thread on another forum and this guy who breeds a few species for a few years then try's his hand at others so on and so forth is planning on building a twenty foot long tank to give his new species a more natural feeling (can you imagine)


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Just curious, can I ask how much for the pallet load?


Most of the pallets on the lot ran from $250-$300. + delivery. Most are only about 10 or 12 cents per pound, but there's over a ton of rock there, so it adds up. He's got open pallets of everything too that you can pick through and buy singles. They run about a dollar or two each. I've stood and gone through whole pallets looking for the right rocks. The LFS is charging almost $2 per pound now, by comparison, so that pallet would have cost about $5000. 

Many of the rocks are too big for most tanks, but I pulled aside about two dozen that were smaller. The rest will go for the landscaping. I use the yard to hold rocks I might need in a tank someday.  If I need something, I just go out in the yard and pick something out, and rearrange things so you can't even tell I was there.

This is an old pic, but all of the rocks I got from picking though pallets at the landscape supply yard. They're the same as the ones I just bought. They look good in a tank. Who cares how they look in the yard.


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## erikcoley (Jul 6, 2009)

Bweb said:


> > I do the same with rocks and especially driftwood.
> >
> >
> > > question about the drift wood can you use drift wood from the beach if cleaned and maybe silicone it to a piece of flat rock to hold it down in the tank. I read some were that its hard to prepare wood to go in a tank for some reason can't remember were I read that also it has a tendency to lower PH correct.
> > ...


with driftwood the only thing is it releases tannins into the water which lower the ph ,as long as you keep an eye on your ph you should be fine .
i also take any of the driftwood i find and soak it for about a month helps to release some of the heavy tannins and water log the piece.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

Thanks that answered my question perfectly so can the drift wood come from a fresh water source or does it need to have been cured buy salt water My parents live near lake Ontario 
that is probably the only free source close enough to me I live near two rivers but theirs not much in the way of drift wood in them.


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

> If I need something, I just go out in the yard and pick something out, and rearrange things so you can't even tell I was there.


Sneaky, veeery sneaky! 
:? = wife when she catches on. 
Ah, yes, a man with a good backup plan... buy 2000+ lbs. of rocks for the "_landscaping_" :thumb:



> They look good in a tank. Who cares how they look in the yard.


So hilarious, Tim! 
:lol:

On a serious note, I have to add a word of caution... well... because I'm a worrier:
Be careful when using garden rocks. Think about the fertilizer, bug spray and weed killer sometimes used in gardens.
Wash 'em good and you're golden!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Ah, yes, a man with a good backup plan... buy 2000+ lbs. of rocks for the "landscaping"


Hey, it's a win-win :thumb:



> Be careful when using garden rocks. Think about the fertilizer, bug spray and weed killer sometimes used in gardens.
> Wash 'em good and you're golden!


Oh, yeah. I take extra care when spraying to stay away from my aquarium, I mean landscaping rocks.  And I scrub them well. First time I did that I was nervous about it, but rocks aren't absorbent, so no reason a good scrubbing and rinsing won't take care of things.


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## erikcoley (Jul 6, 2009)

with anything i get to put in my aquarium i always scrub then dump boiling water on it never know what nasties could be lurking on the stuff,except for the fish i dont dump boiling water on them


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## Tshethar (Jul 20, 2009)

Can't help but add my story from earlier this week about rock collecting: A friend of mine from work really enjoys kayaking on a creek in the area and he got another colleague and I to go out with him. About halfway along I mentioned something about rocks for the new tank I'm setting up, and so right before we finished the run we "pulled over" and two of us started picking rocks from the creek bed. Well, my friend somehow loaded them up so that as soon as he got in his boat he capsized the thing, and my last ride over some "rapids" (about a 2 foot drop) had pretty much the whole bow underwater....

The guy who owns the kayak was worried the handles might pull off when he had to help me carry my kayak full of rocks from the landing back up to the vehicle! :lol: :thumb:


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

That is Funny Anything for some good rocks sometimes you have to sacrafice your body to collect the really good one's LOL.


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