River Rocks

[Danduin]

What do I need to do to sanitise any rocks that I find in a river for use in my aquarium? Obviously cleaning them as best I can would be the first thing.

[jeffro426]

Scrub them really good with a stiff bristle brush and soak them in a diluted bleach/water solution and rinse them VERY well until you can no longer smell the bleach. You can also boil them if you have a large enough pot. Ive done this to all the rocks in my tanks and never had any problems.

[Aquarius0015]

You could test the pH of the rocks by soaking them in water for a few days and testing the water. I think it's a bit obsessive, but I've heard of others doing it. My philosophy is, if you drop vinegar on it and there is fizzing, it's a big no-no. I doubt a river rock would be a problem though.

[Danduin]

Thanks for the quick responses. It was about what I thought. I do have to be careful around here with the rocks that are picked. All the streams and such are FULL of fossilised material and much of it does not pass the vinegar test. I would love to fill the bottom of my tank (and it would be an easy task) with all fossilised corals and shells.

Again thanks for your help. Now if you can tell me some way of stopping these da** convicts from mating . . . . . everytime I think I have removed all the females I get a suprise in the form of about 40 or so fry :o there must have been one lone female hiding in a cave or something


Cheers