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The hidden vein
- Thread starter Hanuman
- Start date
Is that dilute HCL? I might still consider using the rock if it is. It's an amazing shape. Reminds me of this...
You know me. I don't dilute nothing. I like it raw and tangy 🤓. 35% hydrochloric acid. Ok yes it can be used for general purpose aquascaping, but for keeping sensitive plants, that's no bueno. It will keep raising KH. I don't want to fight that battle, it's lost before it even starts.
I did a test by diluting maybe 50ml of acid in ~300/400 ml of water and the bubbling was nowhere near that but I could still hear the fizzing.
Andy Pierce
Member
HCl will also cause bubbling when reacting with metals. That liberates hydrogen gas rather than carbon dioxide. If you hold a match up to the bubbles, do they explode? (pro tip: appropriate safety precautions wrt exploding HCl)
Let me take the flame thrower from the storage...
Jokes aside, I think HCL reacts mostly with Mg, Zn and specially with Ca. Even under those circumstances I wouldn't want them leaching in the water uncontrolled due to CO2 acidifying the water.
And now soaked in potassium permanganate KMnO₄ to annihilate any funky germ in there. I don't know where these rocks travelled or with who they slept with so I like to take precautions. I will leave the rocks to soak 24h. Solution should turn brown within this time period. I will then rinse them thoroughly and leave them to dry. I will then store them for when I'm ready to scape.
Concentrated solution of KMnO₄
Rocks in container. I pressure washed them prior this step.
Adding concentrated solution of KMnO₄
Concentrated solution of KMnO₄
Rocks in container. I pressure washed them prior this step.
Adding concentrated solution of KMnO₄
_Maq_
Member
Looks like asphalt.
OK, volcanic asphalt, perhaps.
OK, volcanic asphalt, perhaps.
John q
Member
Could be ignite, ignite apparently grows "sexy plants" 🤔
You know I love a good plant quiz John! 😃
This one was a bit harder to figure out, but I think I worked it out! Bonsai ficus, right!!?
😂
Pretty much volcanic (basalt) rock. Being wet makes them look pitch black.Looks like asphalt.
OK, volcanic asphalt, perhaps.
Lava is underrated rock imo. Easy for plants to root on, inert (🥇), easy to stack because they grip each other.
Also its possible to get ones that are more solid so there are options to chose from in both color and texture.
Not too far from here there is an area with wine/ purple-ish colored lava rock, sometimes I imagine what sort of whacky looking scape one could create with that 😊
Hopefully I'll be able to make something decent with these rocks. Just need to empty my tank which should happen soon...
Sounds like a dream, I'd be straight in there!
Lignite....softish sedimentary rock...woody/bark like in appearance.....sure does grow moss well, emersed!
hoggie
zozo
Member
That acid-fizzling rock doesn't necessarily mean it's no good for aquariums... It's simply an old-school method for a better safe than sorry conclusion if you don't know any better. Take for example Gray Ardennen Grit, Also available with lots of white veins...
Amazon product ASIN B07PT7KZGP
widely used in aquariums across Europa, especially Belgium because you can pick it off the ground over there and it's a hard limestone, if you put acid on it it will fizzle like mad. But in the water, it doesn't do anything. It's much too hard and releases the lime in such minimal amounts you won't measure a difference with a weekly water change. Not even after months of no water change.
A better test than acid is simply to put it in a bucket of water and do some measurements after a week for several weeks and see what it does. Then you will know for sure... Not all types of limestone are a no-go...
It's a very nice rock...
It's simply an old-school method for a better safe than sorry conclusion if you don't know any better. Take for example Gray Ardennen Grit, Also available with lots of white veins...Amazon product ASIN B07PT7KZGP
widely used in aquariums across Europa, especially Belgium because you can pick it off the ground over there and it's a hard limestone, if you put acid on it it will fizzle like mad. But in the water, it doesn't do anything. It's much too hard and releases the lime in such minimal amounts you won't measure a difference with a weekly water change. Not even after months of no water change.
A better test than acid is simply to put it in a bucket of water and do some measurements after a week for several weeks and see what it does. Then you will know for sure...
Not all types of limestone are a no-go...It's a very nice rock...
Wookii
Member
If it "fizzes like mad" if you put acid on it, it will most certainly release loads of CaCO3 in a CO2 injected tank @zozo - it might be fine in a low energy tank, but as soon as the carbonic acid resulting from CO2 injection gets to it, it will substantially raise both KH and GH. I've used Seiyu stone in a couple of scapes, which is a similar limestone based rock, and despite 50% weekly water changes with pure (non-reminerlised) RO, the KH was always around 6KH, and GH always around GH10 (with MgSO4 addition).
My snails unfortunately suffer a similar fate - in my low tech softwater tanks they are fine, but in CO2 injected tanks with similar parameters, their shells gradually dissolve to nothing.
zozo
Member
In theory OK...
I still would give it a real test and see...As said the Ardennen grey stone is widely used in aquariums around the area it's found mainly in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany... Tons of rather long forum topics about it with tons of Yes/No and OK/Not OK discussions about it... I guess it all depends on several parameters together if it will do anything drastic to water parameters before the water change is overdue... In my personal experience, I have to agree with the OK clan.
That's all i can say...It's not my intention to start up a Yes/No discussion about certain types of limestone... If it were me and my rock I would test it for real and not jump to a theoretic conclusion because of some fizzles and throw a beautiful rock in the corner.
Wookii
Member
In theory OK...
Easy enough to test in a jug of RO or DI water, and bubble some CO2 though it for a few days. I'd be willing to bet a substantial fistful of change that any rock that fizzes with an acid test is going to raise your water parameters with CO2 injection.
Do you have some to be able to test?
That acid-fizzling rock doesn't necessarily mean it's no good for aquariums...
Amazon product ASIN B07PT7KZGP
widely used in aquariums across Europa, especially Belgium because you can pick it off the ground over there and it's a hard limestone, if you put acid on it it will fizzle like mad. But in the water, it doesn't do anything. It's much too hard and releases the lime in such minimal amounts you won't measure a difference with a weekly water change. Not even after months of no water change.
A better test than acid is simply to put it in a bucket of water and do some measurements after a week for several weeks and see what it does. Then you will know for sure...
It's a very nice rock...
As Wookii mentions. The rock is perfectly fine to work with, as I mentioned in an earlier post, in a scape that is either low tech or even high tech at the only condition that you don't have some sensitive plants, which require low KH. I can't conclusively tell you for a fact if that fizzing is due to the presence of CaCO3 or anything else but I rather not take the risk considering I sell sensitive plants that require low KH and that I inject CO2. There are a few plants that require you to have a KH below 2-3. Anything above and the plants will not grow and eventually melt. This is the case of certain eriocaulon and other species like Centrolepis Drummondiana (blood vomit) which I grow.
So this test was not to conclusively proof that it is CaCO3, although the chances are that it is CaCO3. It was for me to remove some uncertainty from the equation. Imagine for a second I didn't test, I set up my tank and through out the course of the next 6 months I have my plants melting not knowing what the heck is going on... No thanks. I rather minimize the risks and use that rock for something else. The new volcanic rock I have should be fine, although it's impossible to be risk free.
