I want to have lots of rocks stacked up almost to the top of my aquarium, but if I buy it at my LFS I will be spending a bundle. I heard landscapers have rocks for sale that are a lot cheaper, but so far all the landscaping companies I've called don't sell rocks. I live in houston texas by the way, is anybody from houston that's found a good rocks retailer that's not a LFS, I'd appreciate it.
Help with buying rocks
- Thread starter jay733
- Start date
how about collecting some yourself and save money? all you have to do is take a brush and some hot water to them ... then test them with some muriatic acid (if they fizzzz or bubble don't use them) and they'll be ready to go in your tank.
I recently bought some at a greenhouse that were intended for koi ponds. I think the cobbles I got were 33 cents a pound and the larger boulder I got was 19 cents a pound. all in all I bought 27 pounds of rocks for about 5 bucks. they ned to be scrubbed a little and tested like Liv suggested, but for 5 bucks what the heck?
if you can find them lying around in nature that works too and is free!
if you can find them lying around in nature that works too and is free!
the lfs on 249 and bammel has a good amount of holey rocks and petri. wood for like a $1 a pound.
Sources for rocks will vary by what type of rock you want. Gardening centers sometimes have decorative rock, as do some home improvement centers.
If you want specialty rock like lace rock etc with lots of holes in it and lots of texture, you'll probably have to pay your LFS prices. If you want large cobbles, lots of places will carry those. If you're wanting to build up a wall or caves with flatter rocks--check out places that carry slate or other natural stone (research first to make sure it won't leach into the water) tiles.
I'll be making a series of DYI rock caves and plan to buy the natural slate tiles at HomeDepot at $1.97 each (12" squares) and cutting/breaking them to get smaller pieces to then silicone together. I've seen folks do this with very narrow pieces as well (say 1/4-1/2" deep) to compeltely cover the entire back wall of their tank. Or stagger the pieces to leave openings for fish, etc.
If you want specialty rock like lace rock etc with lots of holes in it and lots of texture, you'll probably have to pay your LFS prices. If you want large cobbles, lots of places will carry those. If you're wanting to build up a wall or caves with flatter rocks--check out places that carry slate or other natural stone (research first to make sure it won't leach into the water) tiles.
I'll be making a series of DYI rock caves and plan to buy the natural slate tiles at HomeDepot at $1.97 each (12" squares) and cutting/breaking them to get smaller pieces to then silicone together. I've seen folks do this with very narrow pieces as well (say 1/4-1/2" deep) to compeltely cover the entire back wall of their tank. Or stagger the pieces to leave openings for fish, etc.