rocks & plant pots in tank

Limestone will slowly disolve in an aquarium. Test you rocks by
dripping some vinegar on them. If you see fizzing, it's best not to
add the rock.

Terra Cota (orange plant containers) have been used for years in
aquariums for caves in cichlid aquariums as breeding caves. These are
'clay' type plots and yours may have just had some dust. I'd rinse it
a few more times, if you still see orange, you may want to by
different pot - probably get better quality from a local nursery.

"ClownPleco" wrote in message
oups.com...
Limestone will slowly disolve in an aquarium. Test you rocks by
dripping some vinegar on them. If you see fizzing, it's best not to
add the rock.

Limestone is perfectly safe if you have fish that like hard alkaline water.
I've been using it for years. It will also help prevent PH crashes. I
haven't had that happen since I keep these rocks in my tanks as decorations.
Some of my outdoor tank/pools have heavy loads of fish and the PH tends to
go down.


--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Is there any problems with putting a rock in the tank? Like a rock from
outside (stone) I guess it would depend on what kind of rock and I don't
know how to explain, but its just a gray rock/stone, I guess like the kind
you would find in your yard? I just wanted to put it in to hold something
down.

Also I have seen plant pots (the orange ones) ceramic I guess they are, in
tanks before I have one and was going to use it so I put it in water over
night to clean it and noticed the next morning some of the water was
orange, so I did not put it in the tank, is there special ones like made
for tanks, or is that normal for color to come off?

I like to decorate with natural rock as well (as well as brick and such).
I'm not too worried about putting natural stone in a tank, but brick and
ceramic I usually soak for a couple of weeks in a bucket of rainwater first.
Some stone will alter your ph and hardness so keep an eye on that. Be very
wary of ceramic, especially the cheap crap - some of it has really poor (and
often toxic) glaze and isn't suitable for much of anything. Scare story: a
family friend and her children became ill and were eventually diagnosed with
lead poisoning - it turned out to be coming from a ceramic juice pitcher
she picked up at a market in Mexico that was absolutely beautiful but had so
much lead in the glaze that anything acidic (like orange juice) would leech
it out

--
John D. Goulden
mostly goldies, guppies, swordtails and bettas