Marble chips for veggie filter?

Lowes didn't have river rock so DS brought home marble chips, which is white
and pretty, for the veggie filter. Is it OK to use marble in the veggie
filter or is it bad. Someplace I read it will lower make the water too
alkaline? I feel fairly sure that the rocks won't stay pretty and white
for very long, too. Thanks for any advice!

"Pam Gibbs" wrote in message
...
Lowes didn't have river rock so DS brought home marble chips, which is
white
and pretty, for the veggie filter. Is it OK to use marble in the veggie
filter or is it bad. Someplace I read it will lower make the water too
alkaline? I feel fairly sure that the rocks won't stay pretty and white
for very long, too. Thanks for any advice!


Stolen from Google. [Rod Farlee]

[quote]
No.
Marble is metamorphosed limestone (calcium carbonate) or
dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate). It dissolves with
atmospheric carbon dioxide to form the bicarbonate.
On average, the world's rivers are saturated with this. Saturation
produces moderate hardness and alkalinity (pH buffering), and is
typically associated with a stable pH of 7.6 to 8.2. All that's good.
Like others here, I used marble gravel in aquaria for years.
[quote]

I have these on my walkway and aside from the PITA of cleaning the leaves
out of them. They are still white. Although the odd piece has rusted.

Just make sure you wash them well, as they are very dusty.

Can you avoid rocks entirely? They are hard to clean. Could you let the
plant roots do the filtering and then just drain or vacuum out the muck
rather than have rocks to provide surface for the bacteria?

Might make life a lot easier.

The rocks, themselves, will become algae covered and look the same as river
rock: dark. Bill is right about the buffering they provide.

Good luck.

Jim

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"Pam Gibbs" wrote in message
...
Lowes didn't have river rock so DS brought home marble chips, which is
white
and pretty, for the veggie filter. Is it OK to use marble in the veggie
filter or is it bad. Someplace I read it will lower make the water too
alkaline? I feel fairly sure that the rocks won't stay pretty and white
for very long, too. Thanks for any advice!

marble is not suitable because they will continue to leach and can drive the pH very
high. Ingrid

"Pam Gibbs" wrote:

Lowes didn't have river rock so DS brought home marble chips, which is white
and pretty, for the veggie filter. Is it OK to use marble in the veggie
filter or is it bad. Someplace I read it will lower make the water too
alkaline? I feel fairly sure that the rocks won't stay pretty and white
for very long, too. Thanks for any advice!




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