How long before I can use collected pebble

[Mulla]

Hi all

I've recently collected some pebbles from a river.

All I can find from searches in the forum was to test for PH after soaking them in a bucket for a certain amount of time. My question is how long should I soak it in the bucket before it could start changing the PH? Would one week be long enough?


Thanks all

[RENEGADE]

a week will be fine but you might be able to do it soon but not sure

[Mulla]

Thanks RENEGADE for confirming that.

pH is the only thing I should be testing for right?

[TKOS]

When evere I find interesting rocks that I want to put in my tank I always boil them first. If the rocks aren't too big then boil them, let cool, dump out old water and do one more time. This makes me feel a little safer that I will have driven off potentially harmful things that are on the surface. Makes the rocks cleaner as well.

[Mgamer20o0]

is there anything else you should do to get the harmful stuff off the rocks. i also just found some rocks in a river that i want to put in my tank.

[Mulla]

Thanks TKOS for the advise. They are not really "interesting" rocks as such but just normal looking pebbles. Figured it's more fun collecting me own and just going out and buy them.

Unfortunately I don't have a spare pot to boil them in. I just scrub the rocks well a few times to get all the slimy coatings off it and soak them in boiling water a few times. Now they're just in a bucket ready to be tested for ph next week.

[TKOS]

Pouring boiling water onto them a couple of times is much better than nothing, plus you have been soaking them for a long time so that is good. Soaking will get a lot of nastey stuff out. Many chlorides are water soluble so they will leach out into your tank over time. The soaking should help remove the most accessable things. Always good.