Locally collected stone

Kinda Depends

Hi,

Part of the answer on rock depends on what you are trying to do. The two never-ever(s)::gw
Never-ever

1. collect rocks from (old or current) mining areas, downstream from, or in washes from those areas.
   
2. Iron pyrite, fool’s gold, never-ever, no matter where it comes from use Iron pyrite.
   

A couple of general rules, these can vary depending on purpose, your experience and comfort level.

1. We do not want anything that fizzes when vinegar is applied.
   
2. Many “soft” rocks are a bad idea anything you can scratch with your fingernail, a coin or easily scratches with a pocketknife.
3. Avoid anything you can break with your hand until you gain experience.
   

The advantage we have is that with the above exceptions you are fairly safe as most of the metals that would normally be a problem for us are very strongly bound (sequestered).


Make sure you are legally allowed and/or have proper permissions to collect, whatever you are collecting.


Clean the rocks thoroughly, knock off anything you can and wash, boiling for 20-minutes if possible is great.


I will read the report you provided.


Biollante

 

It Is Good Things Work The Way They Work...

Hi,

Thankfully, the thing that makes stone, stone also protects us from metal poisoning.


Raising the hardness of the water is the generally accepted reason for avoiding rock that doesn’t pass the “fizz test” that really is not as important as it might also be releasing other stuff that was trapped as the rock was forming.



The iron pyrite (fool’s gold) can be found in many different rocks and is dangerous because it lowers the pH significantly, while it encourages certain biological activities that further reduce pH, and cause the rock (and perhaps others) to dissolve releasing metals that would otherwise remain bound.:gw


I recommend you start another thread for the Pogostemon helferi, remember to give tank information and a good description, photos help.


Biollante

 

Just thought I might add my own experience-

I've collected many different kinds of rock here in western NY including granite and quartz that had streaks of iron containing compounds. These have been placed in nearly all of my aquariums including African cichlid, Asian, and SA/CA cichlid tanks. I never encountered an issue with any kind of heavy metal poisoning or otherwise strange behavior, breeding patterns, or illness. The 'rusty' rocks have never been the majority of the rocks in the tank as I find the rust unsightly, but some choice cobbles often had a few spots of rust.

I collected these rocks as they are an alternative to most other rocks here, which are mostly comprised of slate, shale, and limestone.

As Biollante pointed out, iron pyrite is a big no-no and as such I carefully inspected all rocks and discarded any that were even questionable.

 

Without testing, there's no way of really knowing 100% for sure. When it comes to heavy metals, what we can test for directly is pretty limited. If you can't test for it directly, you have to accept the risk... and a confirmed unknown for diagnosing later. Most of us get by just fine with this idea, since we can generally narrow things down until hardscape rarely becomes a danger.

An easy indirect way of testing, if you're so inclined, is to test on sensitive life. Scrub the rocks, soak rocks in a bucket, test life (some kind of shrimp would be good for heavy metals) on the residual water for one 50% (or equivalent if changes will be

 

Be careful boiling rocks, they can explode/crack. Make sure to let them dry out for a week or two prior to boiling.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5771170_boil-rocks-fish-aquariums.html