Coral in freshwater?

[Ahtahkakoop11]

I was at the pawnshop looking for a small tank to use as a quarantine tank. Well they had two buckets of ‘rocks’ not sure if they were lava rock or coral. Would I be safe adding them to my freshwater tank?? I’ve heard of baking/boiling and soaking when it come to river and ocean rocks... but not sure with these kind. Ty

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was at the pawnshop looking for a small tank to use as a quarantine tank. Well they had two buckets of ‘rocks’ not sure if they were lava rock or coral. Would I be safe adding them to my freshwater tank?? I’ve heard of baking/boiling and soaking when it come to river and ocean rocks... but not sure with these kind. Ty

No - reason is, coral contains calcium and other buffers and will alter the ph of the water

 

[Rmckoy]

I’ve seen people use coral skeleton or reef rocks for tanks such as Africans but I believe the calcium and other buffers would effect the chemistry long term .

 

[Tired]

With African cichlids, the minerals leaching into the water is desirable. They like really, really hard water.

Lava rock is red or black, pitted all over, and generally looks like a rock somebody's attacked with a dent machine. Coral rock is white and extremely full of holes, often very large holes, like Swiss cheese. Lava rock is generally safe for aquaria, if it isn't contaminated with something dangerous. I wouldn't buy lava rock from anywhere that's not an aquarium source, out of concern for contaminants.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I was at the pawnshop looking for a small tank to use as a quarantine tank. Well they had two buckets of ‘rocks’ not sure if they were lava rock or coral. Would I be safe adding them to my freshwater tank?? I’ve heard of baking/boiling and soaking when it come to river and ocean rocks... but not sure with these kind. Ty

Depends on what fish you’re keeping. Rift lake fish will do fine with corals, but something from acidic waters would not respond well to such a buffer in ph.