Rocks

[MdmBudak]

Hello,

I just got a piece of rock for my aquarium and there was sizzle when I poured vinegar over it.

I was told not to use gravel which sizzles in vinegar, does this apply to rocks too?

Thanks

[learner]

hi mdm budak,

not sure if i'm entirely correct or not...

if it sizzles, i think it's some form of carbonate.. and hence it will increase the hardness of your water...
it depends on the types of plants and fish u are going to put in your tank...
if u need soft water, then i guess it's not suitable...

just my 2 cents

[albert]

Vinegar is acidic. So when you pour over carbonate, it will have some chemical reaction, which is why the sizzling sound you heard.

If the rock is not too big, I guess it will be all right to put it in to increase the buffer since our water here has very low KH. I even have to use sodium bicarbonate to increase my KH after every water change.

But you may have to keep an eye of the KH and perform more frequent water change to maintain at 3-4KH.

That's my point of view!

[MdmBudak]

Its quite a big piece, what will happen if my KH gets too high?

Also, will it affect my GH as well?

[DEA]

in theory it can affect your gh, but we won't know unless you try it
it really doesn't matter, ime
i've added seachem equilibrium for nutrients before, didn't notice any effect when the gh went up

as for kH going high.... just skip the water change and it'll go down ^o^

[albert]

Hi DEA,

Correct me if I am wrong. Why do we skip water change when KH is high? Isn't doing a water change reset the water condition in the tank?

Btw, GH is mainly due to magnesium and calcium ions.

Albert