What rocks are safe for reef tanks

[Candymancan]

What rocks csn be used in a reef aquarium ?    The reason i ask is well with Ich gone for now for nearly 6 weeks i no longer need my 60g hexagon as a QT tank to hold my corals fallow (still use a 20qt) but i havent gotten corals or fish in months so its also empty.   I moved all corals and 100lbs of rock from my 135 to my 60g while i treated the display for ich almost 2 months ago and prior the 60g was fresh water wish my last remaining discus but hes now in my 30g hex thatll be fine for just him alone and plants.

 

The 60g hex has just been running empty since.   I do have a bastard velvet damsel in it who i found eats zoanthids.  And my cantalope sized black long spine seaurchin who eats stoney corals like monitporas so i refuse to put them back in my 135.  Plus hes so big now i worry my 6 tangs will one day dart into him

 

Anyway. I have no rock and atm no money to buy on rock well no money to spare.  This year i Kinda want to focus on fixing my classic car then buying fish stuff.  So what rocks can i use from outside that would be safe for a reef tank ?   I have slate stones i used for fresh water tanks once. Had live plants and discus and the rock didnt cause issues.  I also had a africsn chiclid tank with them.  I habe some large river rock too.  With the slate thpugh i could make some pretty cool rock designs.  

 

Wont look like a typical reef with dead or live pourus rock but still anything is better then having a 60g hex just sit with no use.   I couldnt put fancy corals in.  Maybe LPS and softies like leathers and stuff.  

 

Anyway thanks

[Mrod1!]

Not sure about adding rock other than live or dead rock for a reef tank 

 

how many lbs do you need approximately?  
 

Maybe some who live near you have some lying around and if generous a few may give you some for free to help you out. 
 

ive seen lots of posts with people selling a lot of rock and know some have thrown some extra away or just store.  If I had some extra I would gladly give you some (a month ago I actually threw away some extra I didn’t need that came with a used tank)

[Clown79]

Why didn't you just remove the fish from the tank and treat it/them? And during treatment your display would have gone fallow killing all the ich.

 

Not sure what treatment was used in the tank that's safe where nothing left in the tank would absorb the treatment.

 

 

Why not just reuse the rock that was originally in the tank?

 

There aren't any rocks I am aware of that are safe to use besides aragonite(dry rock)

 

Some leach substances into the tanks, some breakdown due to salt, most are not porous enough to provide biological filtration.

[Candymancan]

6 tangs a fox face. Two. Lowns a flame angel two dottybacks in a 60g hex that 30 inches wide ? 

 

Or in a 135g thats 6ft wide 24 inch tall ?   To catch the fish id had to remove the rocks anyway.. soo it was easier to just move the corals and rock lol

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Candymancan said:

6 tangs a fox face. Two. Lowns a flame angel two dottybacks in a 60g hex that 30 inches wide ? 

 

Or in a 135g thats 6ft wide 24 inch tall ?   To catch the fish id had to remove the rocks anyway.. soo it was easier to just move the corals and rock lol

Ya but what did you treat them with in the display and why wouldn't you reuse the rocks you removed.

 

Unfortunately, there really is no replacement for dry reef rock or liverock.

[Candymancan]

I did hyposalinity.  Dude i know what im doing lol.  I pulled 100 lbs of rock out.. bout 70 corals including a green bubble bigger then a basketball.   That 60g hex was fallow for 34-35 days.  I pulled 4 fish out that cant handle hypo (butterfly wrasse ect) and did tank transfer on them for 2 weeks.  And i did hypo on the 135 for 4 weeks at 1.007

 

Its been little over 6 weeks and i havent had ich since.  Ive done all this before.  Only reason i had ich this time was from hermits i didnt qt i bought em tossed em in and in a week i had ich all over ny tangs starting with my powder brown.

 

I mean why are you questioning what i did ?   Even if i used copper.  Copper doesnt leach into rocks and sand like people think.   Ive done cupramine before in my 135 for 4 weeks.. and then i used cuprazorb and activated carbon since cupramine is organic bound..  and plopped my corals and inverts back in and not one died.

 

Been doing this long enough to know what is a myth and what isnt.

 

Thanks for being concerned though.

 

What do you mean why wouldnt i use the rocks i removed..  i put all 100 lbs of rock and 70 corals back in my 135 after hypo and being fallow was done.  Thats why the 60g is empty now.  In my original post my 60g was fresh water with 1 discus whome i moved to a 30g because i needed the 60 to do what i did to eliminate ich.  And instead of c9nverting the 60g back to fresh i want it as my 2nd reef tank.   But i dont have regular rock that we use.. So im wondering if SLATE is safe for a reef.

 

It was safe for fresh watwe but i dunno how slate does in salt water.  Does it leech minerals in the tank or what ect 

[Candymancan]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Why didn't you just remove the fish from the tank and treat it/them? And during treatment your display would have gone fallow killing all the ich.

 

Not sure what treatment was used in the tank that's safe where nothing left in the tank would absorb the treatment.

 

 

Why not just reuse the rock that was originally in the tank?

 

There aren't any rocks I am aware of that are safe to use besides aragonite(dry rock)

 

Some leach substances into the tanks, some breakdown due to salt, most are not porous enough to provide biological filtration.

 

 

Slate was fine in fresh but yea that what you just said is exactly why i asked the question.. im unsure if slate would breakdown in salt watee..

 

As for bio filtration.. the sand bed.. the surface of the slate and so forth is plenty of bio media for a 60g hex with a few fish and softy corals..   LOL. You do realize a tank doesnt need 100 lbs of live rock for BB to function correct ?  If that were the case alot of fresh water tanks wouldnt function.. they use no (live rock) 

 

Same reason why a sump isnt needed in salt water.  

[KMitch]

There is a @BulkReefSupply TV podcast that talks about pulling rock from the outdoors and putting it into your tank. They were specifically discussing what would happen if you got old "live rock" that had been dumped in the yard and wanted to cycle it to use in a tank. Although you aren't talking about using that type of rock, the same concerns they addressed would still apply -- things like cleaning the rocks to remove any organics (like bird poop), pesticides, or other harmful materials. They discussed using bleach or acid to clean the rock before introducing it into the tank.

 

If you decide to go this route, probably worth listening to their podcast to hear the conversation about treating it. I'd be very nervous to put anything from the outside straight into my tank without some good cleaning. 

 

PS - it's not aesthetically nice, but if you want the bio filtration benefits of live rock, then you could add some of the marine pure blocks behind whatever you ultimately use for decorative aquascape. 

[Clown79]

7 hours ago, Candymancan said:

 

 

Slate was fine in fresh but yea that what you just said is exactly why i asked the question.. im unsure if slate would breakdown in salt watee..

 

As for bio filtration.. the sand bed.. the surface of the slate and so forth is plenty of bio media for a 60g hex with a few fish and softy corals..   LOL. You do realize a tank doesnt need 100 lbs of live rock for BB to function correct ?  If that were the case alot of fresh water tanks wouldnt function.. they use no (live rock) 

 

Same reason why a sump isnt needed in salt water.  

Why ask a question or ask for help if you aren't willing to have someone ask a few back?

Thats the natural course of helping another.

 

Everyone on here asks questions to better help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

16 hours ago, Candymancan said:

 

 

Slate was fine in fresh but yea that what you just said is exactly why i asked the question.. im unsure if slate would breakdown in salt watee..

 

As for bio filtration.. the sand bed.. the surface of the slate and so forth is plenty of bio media for a 60g hex with a few fish and softy corals..   LOL. You do realize a tank doesnt need 100 lbs of live rock for BB to function correct ?  If that were the case alot of fresh water tanks wouldnt function.. they use no (live rock) 

 

Same reason why a sump isnt needed in salt water.  

I never said you needed a 100lbs. You seem to be very defensive, sarcastic while reminding ppl that you know what you are doing when they try to help you- after you asked for it???

 

Unfortunately you do need rock that is porous for the bacteria to properly populate.

Sand doesn't off that much help(the very reason why you can do BB)

 

Not all rock is beneficial or else we'd all go that route and save money.

 

I already tried that years ago- 

 

 

 

 

 

[RedCrow]

On 3/29/2020 at 9:07 AM, Candymancan said:

Anyway. I have no rock and atm no money to buy on rock well no money to spare.  This year i Kinda want to focus on fixing my classic car then buying fish stuff. 

Don’t set up another tank then..? You’ve admitted you don’t want to spend money on it, so why set it up at all?

 

 

If your question really is just “I want to set up a new tank on the cheap, can I use slate for the scape?”, the round about way you asked with bringing up ich and other tanks was unnecessary and only caused confusion. 

[Clown79]

10 minutes ago, RedCrow said:

Don’t set up another tank then..? You’ve admitted you don’t want to spend money on it, so why set it up at all?

 

 

If your question really is just “I want to set up a new tank on the cheap, can I use slate for the scape?”, the round about way you asked with bringing up ich and other tanks was unnecessary and only caused confusion. 

Exactly.