Having river stones in a reef tank?

[FlowGod]

I was wondering if you could put rocks from a river and put them in you display (not directly of course). I was worried about metals that may be in the rocks but I have a few in my tank rn and everything is fine. There is a spot in my tank where sand just won't stay and wanted to have a little rock pile there. Thoughts? Concerns? Comments?

 

[ZoWhat]

Best not to chance it as many sedimentary rock has trace of metals in them. Best to stick with oceanic based rocks

 

[Rjukan]

I've gotten frags from someone local that were mounted to blue river stones. He is very knowledgeable and has been doing this a while. Makes me think it would be fine, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Peace River]

Best not to chance it as many sedimentary rock has trace of metals in them. Best to stick with oceanic based rocks

+1

It might be fine, it might not be fine. It depends on how much risk you are willing to accept.

 

[Paul B]

Throw them in and don't worry about them. Then go out to dinner and try the squid.

 

[FlowGod]

I was thinkin' these none of them look like sedimentary to but im no geologist. I got them from a river in Montana.

 

[siggy]

If its the look your after then its your choice obviously, But a large chunk of calcium( LR) would be beneficial to the system

 

[W1ngz]

Why can't you just adjust your powerheads so they aren't blowing the sand out of the corner? More of a 'treat the cause, not the symptom' approach.

 

[Peace River]

I was wondering if you could put rocks from a river and put them in you display (not directly of course). I was worried about metals that may be in the rocks but I have a few in my tank rn and everything is fine. There is a spot in my tank where sand just won't stay and wanted to have a little rock pile there. Thoughts? Concerns? Comments?

@Paleozoic_reefer - thoughts?

 

[FlowGod]

It's a 42 peninsula tank so where ever I put a power head it flows over my scape and blows the sand away on the other end.

 

[Billdogg]

I wouldn't, but that's me. As someone else said - if you like it, it's your tank!

Besides the possibility of contamination, you have to remember that the lion's share of your biological filtration live on and in the pores of the rocks in your system. Your tank would be much better served with a nice piece of LR, or even a small pile of LR rubble.

 

[Reeftroubles]

Best not to chance it as many sedimentary rock has trace of metals in them. Best to stick with oceanic based rocks

Great point I never thought about thinks like Mica being those.

 

[W1ngz]

Is that a Nero 5? That's 3000gph in what looks like a relatively short tank if you have it maxed, you're blasting the end of that tank with the flow. Cut back the flow a little and the sand will stay put.

 

[siggy]

Is the power head on a constant stream mode? try random or pulse. Now if you had an apposing Power HD placed higher up you could control it more better

 

[siggy]

BTW you have a chunky wrAss ;Woot

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

@Paleozoic_reefer - thoughts?

Sorry for the late reply...major tank issues this week... I agree with the others who've commented. I wouldn't risk it unless I new exactly what type of rock it was, it's porosity (who knows what it's absorbed over time in a stream!), and the source of the stream's water it was found in....