Fossil Rock.

[taygu]

Hi,

Does anyone know whether fossil rock will alter the water chemistry?

Thanks in advance.

[barmby]

I cannot confirm. But it is not inert. I will be careful with it

[Philosophos]

Fossilization is found in sedimentary rock most of the time, purely because fossils don't tend to be recognizable after being heated up until they're molton and sloshed around. Slate can be pretty inert stuff. It all depends on the basin that's feeding it. If it's a fossil that looks like something that should be in the ocean, then it's probably limestone (mostly CaCO3) and not worth adding if you're trying for a low pH. Try soaking it in some HCL (muriatic acid at 50% will do) and see if it reacts.

You could also try leaving it in a small, closed container filled with DI water for twice the ammount of time you'd go before changing 50% of the water in your tank, then throwing some test kits at it. Try pH, KH and GH first, then move on to things like iron and copper if the first 3 tests show up fine. Set up a control if you like to make sure that you aren't getting a false positive off the container and such. What ever the results are, twice its number will be the maximum of how much it adds to the water over time.

-Philosophos

[taygu]

Hi, thanks for the info..

Though some hobbyist here has tried...

Anyway, will run a test tonight and will post result after that..probably tomorrow.

[taygu]

Sorry for the late update.

Did a test on the PH and KH after socking the fossil rock in the water for more than 24 hours. The reading are the same and thus the rock is neutral.

[Philosophos]

24 hours? That's a little short unless you're doing 50% water changes every 2 days. Try leaving it for more like a week if you're doing standard EI.

-Philosophos