# Nervous about this rock



## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Please take a look and let me know what you think about this rock. I have no idea what it is, but it seems perfect for my tank. I am a little nervous that it might be some type of sandstone. I took a couple whacks at it with a hammer, and pieces fell off pretty easy. 2 concerns. 1) Is it safe, 2) How will hold up under water over the years. Have not seen many of you using this before. Any pros or cons?


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## atreis (Jan 15, 2013)

Test it to see if it reacts with vinegar. (To me it looks more like a soft limestone.) In either case, sandstone or limestone, it'll work fine for a hard water tank.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Did you buy it or collect it locally?


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Bought it from a landscape company. $15 for the lot. The person I dealt with did not know what it was.


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## oyster dog (Jul 2, 2013)

It looks like limestone, which is great for an African cichlid tank.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

That's what I thought it was since I am planning in Africans. But I would have expected limestone not to break apart so easy. How can I be sure that it's limestone?


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

There are many different forms of limestone. This looks like a 'shale' limestone to me. It is softer than 'regular' limestone and exists in thin layers within the rock. In your pictures you can see the layering. It can be used for fish that prefer harder water, just as regular limestone.


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## ozman (Sep 7, 2012)

looks great inmo and as all the above have said.
enjoy it and will be great for hard water cichlids.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

They went in the tank last night and today when I got home from work all is good. I have some feeder fish in there right now, just getting the tank cycled and all are still swimming. They look great. One more week to get everything settled and then on to selecting the cichlids.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice looking rocks. Are there holes through them?
Please consider doing a fishless cycle. There is no downside and in addition you won't be harming any fish.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/f ... _cycle.php


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

GTZ said:


> Please consider doing a fishless cycle. There is no downside and in addition you won't be harming any fish.
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/f ... _cycle.php


Yes, please consider fishless cycling.

Cycling with fish is bad because:

-it harms the fish you're cycling with
-weakens fish's immune system
-fish with weakened immune systems, even if they will not be your long term fish, will leave lots of bad bacteria/viruses/diseases in your tank for your cichlids to inherit.
-there is no need to cycle with fish.

Cycling without fish is good because:

-It introduces no solid waste to the tank while it is breaking in
-You can cycle with the exact amount of ammonia necessary, use a lot for a tank that will be heavy stocked or a little for a tank that will be lightly stocked
-You can add all your fish right away after a fishless cycle
-No fish or other critters are harmed by fishless cycling
-No disease is introduced to the tank

To do a fishless cycle you will need a test kit, 2 syringes, and a bottle of pure ammonia (hardware store, etc).


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## MeCasa (Apr 5, 2014)

Does limestone (Austin chalk) ever stop raising the ph? I tested it at 8.2 which is a little high for South American's but I'm going to drop it down with small amounts of muriatic (no fish yet and not cycled), then I'm going to add some peat moss in the cannisters.

Is this a battle I can win?

150 gallon sand bottom

Thanks


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

MeCasa said:


> Does limestone (Austin chalk) ever stop raising the ph? I tested it at 8.2 which is a little high for South American's but I'm going to drop it down with small amounts of muriatic (no fish yet and not cycled), then I'm going to add some peat moss in the cannisters.
> Is this a battle I can win?
> 150 gallon sand bottom
> Thanks


Many African cichlid keepers find that limestone is limited in its ability to raise pH to desirable levels. I believe this is more from the standpoint of rocks which offer minimal surface area to the water. If in sand form, it might very well have more of an effect, although I have no personal experience in this area. Is the sand in your tank limestone? Also what is the normal pH of your tapwater? If you want to drop the pH you're better to remove the limestone and use say granite which will not appreciably alter pH. If you use acid to lower it, it will most likely be difficult to keep pH stable ... you'll spend your time chasing the numbers. :?


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## MeCasa (Apr 5, 2014)

The sand is quartz pfs so that's not a problem. My water is fairly hard well water that averages 7.9 - 8.0 and the limestone raised it .2 - .3 to 8.2 which is not the end of the earth but is higher than it should be.

These will be no change of rock since my 12 year old grandaughter and myself spent 30 hours or more designing a rock wonderland for her new aquarium and her happiness is paramount. Ironically the rock is left over from my house which is covered in Limestone and I never thought about the PH until after the work was done.

My hope was that someone would give me an indication as to whether or not the rock would eventually lose it's ability to affect the water or if I had to design a long term strategy.

There's enough rock in this tank that I was worried about the stress on the glass :lol:

Thanks


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

The rock won't "lose its ability to affect the water". It's limestone to the core. The elevated pH is caused much more by your well water than the rocks. If you did swap out your rocks for granite (and you've said you're not prepared to do this), your pH would still be high. So you would, in the long term have to treat your water. But the most obvious solution is to keep African mbuna or Tanganyikan cichlids, or pretty much any cichlid from Mexico or Central America. There are also many livebearers that would thrive in your water.


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## MeCasa (Apr 5, 2014)

notho2000 said:


> The rock won't "lose its ability to affect the water". It's limestone to the core. The elevated pH is caused much more by your well water than the rocks. If you did swap out your rocks for granite (and you've said you're not prepared to do this), your pH would still be high. So you would, in the long term have to treat your water. But the most obvious solution is to keep African mbuna or Tanganyikan cichlids, or pretty much any cichlid from Mexico or Central America. There are also many livebearers that would thrive in your water.


That's the direction I've been going. The great irony here is that I've lived in Texas for 35 years +/- and I've had successful aquariums for twenty of those years. But that was before the internet, before we had so much information and this new found ability to beat things to death

Back in those days I just set up the aquarium, dumped in the fish and everybody was happy, now I spend 10 hours reading before I do anything.

I think I'll just buy fish that can't read the PH tester or perhaps fall back on the old survival of the fittest test. It worked for me, I'm a Yankee that does not thrive in 100 degree temperature but here it is 2014, I'm still kicking and still living in Texas. :wink:

This is my water...Sink or swim


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

:thumb: Go for it!


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