# River Rock Question..Clean?



## mhough260 (Mar 22, 2013)

I picked up about 35-45 lbs of River Rock from my father's property and I'm currently boiling them. They are going in a Mbuna tank, and I want them as clean as possible..

I first poured a little vinegar on a few of them, no bubbling or sizzling noises so thats a plus..

There is a bit of greenish algae growth on them from sitting outside, so I scrubbed them the best I could and used an old toothbrush to scrub deep into it..and boiling them..

I should be pretty well set, correct? I just wanna make sure I'm not putting anything potentially dangerous into the tank, and I appreciate all the input!!!!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You should be fine with your cleaning procedure.


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## mhough260 (Mar 22, 2013)

Deeda said:


> You should be fine with your cleaning procedure.


Thanks Deeda. I'm just worried a few of the rocks have some algae growth which I'm unable to scrape off, and wondering if that may be devastating or beneficial to the tank? Any idea?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I don't think that it should matter if there is a bit of algae on the rocks. If you are concerned, you could bleach the rocks using a 1% solution and then thoroughly rinse them with fresh water and then a bit of 'dechlor' product.


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## mhough260 (Mar 22, 2013)

Deeda said:


> I don't think that it should matter if there is a bit of algae on the rocks. If you are concerned, you could bleach the rocks using a 1% solution and then thoroughly rinse them with fresh water and then a bit of 'dechlor' product.


Ok..the sound of bleach worries me a bit lol. I'm sure its safe after rinsing and such, but there are only a few of the rocks with algae on it..the really cool ones, of course..

I'll just boil them and cool them down, and add the rocks. I appreciate all the help Deeda!!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The green is just a residual stain...I've put green stained rocks in my tank without issues.


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## mhough260 (Mar 22, 2013)

DJRansome said:


> The green is just a residual stain...I've put green stained rocks in my tank without issues.


Some of them weren't so bad, but they were clean for the most part (vinegar, boiled, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed again) so I think I should be safe..I'm going to post up some pictures here shortly once I load them to photobucket.


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## mhough260 (Mar 22, 2013)

So last night after the "Clean river rock" questions and great answers, I decided to clean them all up and spend some quality time with the fishes :fish:

Quite a few users have suggested that I use more rock, and not make just "caves" or "tunnels" for what I am keeping, so I decided to take some advice and switch it up. It seems like they this quite a bit more, seem a little more active and the baby Demasoni love it. Thoughts, ideas and question are welcome! 

This tank is currently about to be moving everything and inhabitants to the 55g as soon as I decide which substrate I want to go with, still love the look of this white, more coarse sand..but the pool filter sand keeps looking pretty good for the price, too. The white sand is harder to clean so I've come to find out, but with 25-35% W/C every week, I just vac it out and it seems to be fine. Input on that would be appreciated!

Before Pictures:


















After the river rock: 













































I tried not to get too carried away with it, beings all the work put into this is just to see what I can come up with..as stated before, once the 55g transformation happens, I'm going to put quite a bit of time and effort into that beings that it's going to be more less permanent (until mid summer  )


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

As long as you are happy with the rock set up and the rocks are secure so they can't topple, you are fine.


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