# Quartz rock and Pyrite



## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

Hello everyone, thanks for taking interest in my post.

I recently purchased from a landscape supply store what they call "split garden stone" and what I think to be some form of quartz rock. It came from a mixed rock bin. After getting it home and soaking/cleaning it for sometime I notice pyrite in at least 50% of the pieces. Needless to say I was totally bummed. Now I am extremely hesitant to use not only the remaining pieces, but any quartz rock.

*Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ... 965464933/*

Can anyone share their experience/knowledge with quartz. I have spoken with a another CF forum member who has pyrite free quart in his aquarium so I assume this exists. Is it typically recommended to stay away from quartz? If not is there a safe way to check for pyrite (other than visually - I don't trust my eyes).

Thanks so much for your comments. I am super excited to get my new tank setup and running and this has been a scary roadblock for me.

Tyler


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

i wouldn't call those pics "quartz' rock, it's a type of igneous rock formation called gabbro, and when it comes to these things, if one rock from the formation has a mineral, they all do, but being that's it's igneous, it's not porous so if it's not exposed on the surface it shouldn't touch your water

you might actually be looking at pyroxene, not pyrite as pyroxene is common and has many shiny forms, pyrite is not as common, in fact not at all common


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

cjacob316 - Thanks for the information. It seems I jumped a few steps in my discussion by assuming I knew the rock I had and assuming what I saw was pyrite. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Regarding your comment that it is more likely to be pyroxene than pyrite, as far as use in an aquarium would you consider one to be any better/worse than the other?

Also, you state that "if it's not exposed on the surface it shouldn't touch your water." I've read a few places that to detect for pyrite you can use muriatic acid and watch to see if it foams/bubbles. Do you know how reliable this is? I just don't trust my eyes to see these small traces of gold in the rock. Some I only see when it is wet. Sometimes I think I might be making myself see it.

Sorry for all the questions.

Tyler


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

it may work, i've never used chemicals to test for pyrite. but consider how pyrite actually forms, i wouldn't consider this likely to be pyrite. are you sure it's a goldish color and not just metalic looking or green? i really don't see a problem with pyroxene


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

The mineral is definitely giving off a golden color (see second photo in my previous link). There are one or two rocks which show larger pieces of the golden mineral. I'll try to post pictures of them later today.

After your mention of gabbro I did some reading around the internet and it seems to be common opinion that this is not typically a troublesome rock for use in aquariums. I just wish there were more of a scientific way to know for sure. So far my plans to ease my concerns are as follows:

- Test each piece with muriatic acid and observe reaction.
- Leave all rocks in water source for ~1 week and record any changes in PH. Should I also be testing KH, GH? Anything else?

An additional point which concerns me is simply the fact that my untrained eye pulled these pieces from a rock bin containing many samples. It is quite possible that there are similar looking but different rock types within my collection.

Thanks for your help,
Tyler


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

that's not pyrite, it tends to form in clusters and have a blocky shape to it, it wouldn't normally be scattered around like that, and again, pyrite is not a mineral associated with gabbro. i didn't look at the first couple of pics before, but that's probably a form of pyroxene which should be fine


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

unless of course i'm just completely missing something and this is schist or something like that, but from the picks it doesn't look to be schist, which should be fairly smooth and have what looks like layers very similar to that of slate or shale


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

So out of curiosity I decided to purchase some muriatic acid and do some testing of the rocks. See the results in the below video links.

1) 




2) 




3) 




Some of the rocks showed visible "fizzing" but most not. The first video shows more or less what most of my rocks did.

My question is, does a reaction, no matter the magnitude, justify tossing out the rocks? I would not consider using the rock from the third video but I really have no base from which to judge the reactions I am seeing in the first and second. Will every rock fizz or bubble or does bubbling tell with some certainty that there are unwanted metals?

Thanks,
Tyler


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

where the rocks cleaned fist?


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

Good point.

I bleached and scrubbed the rocks over the weekend and soaked and drained them several times over the last days, but they sat outside yesterday and might have even got a bit wet from the rain.

I'll try to clean a few tomorrow and retest.

Do you think this can account for the light fizzing seen in video 1 and 2? I can't imagine the reaction seen in the third video is the result of dirt/impurities, but that is just my thought based on little to nothing 

EDIT: Also after watching the videos a few times, I came to realize the reaction in the third video is much different than the other two. It actually fizzes a yellow color where as the other two seem to react more as a clear bubbling. Not sure if this signifies anything, just thought it was worth mentioning.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

yes to 1 and 2

the third one looks bad, which make me wonder if the pics just make it difficult ti properly id the rocks, some parts look like they could be somehting else, but they just really look like gabbro to me


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

I wouldn't necessarily doubt yourself on your id. I only took photos of 5 or 6 rocks when I have 10 or 12 and as I said they were picked from a mixed rock bin. It is very possible, and probably likely, that there are different rock types within my lot. I'll try to put something together to correlate pictures with acid reactions.

The rock in the third video shows more significant mineral groupings no question. They don't necessarily look gold, but they look different than anything seen in the others specimans


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

does that rock look layered? like slate or shale?


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

It is layered as in different layers created over time. It doesn't look like any slate or shale I've seen before. To be honest, when I google gabbro the pictures look identical to much of what I have. I feel like you hit that identification right on. Is it not possible that gabbro can have some minerals in it that would cause it to react with muriatic acid?

I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.


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## riccvicious (Apr 30, 2010)

i actualy just just rock just like that out of my tank because it started messing with my ph and i noticed the pyrite started to rust and what not and my fish got super stressed and were gasping all the time and the rock started looking rusty after about 5-6 months


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

could be a form of quartzite or schist it's just really hard to tell from the pictures


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

riccvicious - Any chance you can take some photos of your rocks?

I'm starting to think using the rock just isn't worth the risk. I just wish the landscape place would take it back!!


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

So I went through testing the rocks with muriatic acid. In most cases I see a few small bubble but I am chalking these up to dirt/impurities. The few that showed "fizzing" I threw out as well as those showing excessive rust coloring.

Next steps:

I'm going to soak the remaining rocks for one week in 5 gallon bucket along side a control bucket and compare for PH changes.

Additionally, I've searched around the internet and while some of my rock is likely gabbro I believe some is also augite. The pictures in this link look identical to some of my rocks.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... rYNfT0uPEM

That said, do we know if pyroxene is toxic to fish?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

not likely, since augite is a mineral that makes up large rocks, you aren't likely to find huge crystals of just augite like the size of your rocks, those are maginifed pictures, rocks are hard to id relying in pictures, i think you're doing a good job trying to test everything, if it's worth the effort that's up to you to decide


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## tyhoward08 (Apr 23, 2006)

cjacob316 - Hmm, interesting. I thought about trying to find a local geologist to id the rocks, but as you said, in the end no matter he/she tells me, I have to make the call on whether I want to use them or not.

I could easily go back and pickup some rocks that are known as aquarium safe, but I'm hoping, if none of my tests show these hazardous, that they will give me the unique look I'm striving for.

Thanks for your help. I'll update in a week when my PH test is complete.


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