Minerals in the aquarium

[Big Dummy]

I have some large gemstone crystals, non-gem quality ore basically,
including flourite, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, citrine, and topaz. I put
the amethyst in my tank a while back and everything seems ok with it, my
girlfriend wanted to put the others in, but I was just wondering if anyone
knows whether there could be any potential problems? I believe most of
these are actually quartz or some form of beryl, does that leach any metals
or other dangerous toxins which could harm my fish? There is no metal
obviously visible in the rocks... do they effect the hardness or anything
like that?

Just wondering,

DB

[NetMax]

"Big Dummy" > wrote in message
. net...
>I have some large gemstone crystals, non-gem quality ore basically,
> including flourite, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, citrine, and topaz.
> I put
> the amethyst in my tank a while back and everything seems ok with it,
> my
> girlfriend wanted to put the others in, but I was just wondering if
> anyone
> knows whether there could be any potential problems? I believe most of
> these are actually quartz or some form of beryl, does that leach any
> metals
> or other dangerous toxins which could harm my fish? There is no metal
> obviously visible in the rocks... do they effect the hardness or
> anything
> like that?
>
> Just wondering,
>
> DB


Get a bottle of pH Down (concentrated acid) from the LFS and put a few
drops on each mineral. If they fizz, then they have carbonates which
will probably leech calcium into the aquarium (which may or may not be
desirable, depending on your setup). Avoid green minerals which might be
oxidized copper (poisonous). Ultimately, the pail test with a couple of
White Cloud minnows is sometimes the best way to check unknown minerals.

I think I wrote something about this here:
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/rocks/rocks.shtml
hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Roger Sleet]

In article >,
(Big Dummy) wrote:

> *From:* "Big Dummy" >
> *Date:* Tue, 27 Dec 2005 09:58:18 GMT
>
> I have some large gemstone crystals, non-gem quality ore basically,
> including flourite, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, citrine, and topaz.
> I put
> the amethyst in my tank a while back and everything seems ok with it, my
> girlfriend wanted to put the others in, but I was just wondering if
> anyone
> knows whether there could be any potential problems? I believe most of
> these are actually quartz or some form of beryl, does that leach any
> metals
> or other dangerous toxins which could harm my fish? There is no metal
> obviously visible in the rocks... do they effect the hardness or
> anything
> like that?

All those listed will be fine.

Roger Sleet
Roger's Aquatic Pages http://www.sleet.plus.com