is it safe to put natural tufa rock in a fresh water aquarium?if not,why?

Question

rock created from cattails,weeds,various plants that rotted and limestone water ran over it and created tufa rock.

Answer 1

Both tufa and lava rock are very suitable for the marine aquarium, but each have various advantages and disadvantages. Tufa rock is relatively inexpensive and can help buffer the pH of the water due to its high content of calcium carbonate. However, it is fairly dense and displaces greater quantities of water.

Lava rock, on the other hand, is more expensive, does not influence pH, but is light and displaces relatively little water. A mixture of the two is often a good compromise. Other suitably inert rocks are also available, and should be considered for their cost and displacement qualities, as well as their aesthetic value.

Whichever rock is chosen, it should be arranged carefully and safely. Although many fish will enjoy swimming in and out of the rocky corridors, others will also require a fair amount of open space in which to swim.

Nearly all other natural rocks usually chosen for use in freshwater aquariums should be avoided, the only exception being slate. Many of these rocks contain harmful metals and minerals that would pollute saltwater and harm the fish.

Fishkeeping and conservation have become closer allies, and this is beginning to be reflected in the hobbyist's choice of tank decoration. On the way out are the stark white, dead corals, and on the way in are the artificial kinds made of inert colored resins These are often made by fishermen no longer able to fish the coral reefs and surrounding water, providing them with a valuable source of income where none would otherwise exist.
Tufa" is loosely and confusingly applied. Tufa may be chemical sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate, which has been formed as an incrustation around lime-rich springs. Or "tufa" ("tuff") may be a generic term for pyroclastic volcanic ash solidified into rock. This is sometimes locally called "lace rock." Calcareous tufa will surely raise the pH. Volcanic "tuff" may not be inert either, especially in soft, acidic waters. Porous travertine has also originally been precipitated in lime springs, as tufa. Though it has been partially metamorphosed by heat and pressure, it still bears a high calcium content that renders it unsuitable in general-purpose aquaria. Quite apart from tufa, but sometimes confused with it because both are porous and because some tufa is volcanic in origin, is "lava rock," actually a reddish volcanic pumice, the solidified froth of lava. Pumice is inert; it won't affect the pH. Pumice is full of intricate channels; in fact some naturally-occuring pumice is even buoyant and useless in the aquarium. Pumice is aquarium-safe. In fact you may get some side benefits from using it: after it has been in place for six months or so, you may witness some slow decline in nitrate in the aquarium. This is due to de-nitrification carried on by certain bacteria, deep in recesses of lava rock, where the water is anoxic. If you pull out the rock and drain it, or worse, if you dry it, the de-nitrifying effect will be cancelled. So, treat matured lava rock as respectfully as you would a matured sponge filter. Its rather harsh and blank brick-red color is improved in time with some algal growths. If you think your fishes will scrape themselves on the rough surface of lava rock, you can cover it with Java fern, which will root into it without compromising its slowly developing de-nitrating qualities.

Now I have also been told not to use Tufa Rock, it leaches hardening salts into the water and should only be used in hardwater set ups.

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Answer 2

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The reason you were cautioned about using the materials for freshwater is that in water with a pH below 7.8 (most tapwater), these materials tend to dissolve slowly, increasing both the pH and hardness of your water. Not may fish appreciate their conditions fluctuating with every water changem which it would under these conditions. The material is fine for use with cichlids requiring higher pH (mostly Africans), or other fish that require brackish conditions. The problem here is most of the species that need these conditions will grow too large to keep in a 5 gallon tank (especially a hex, since it's taller than wide, and most fish don't swim vertically). One possibility is to use a few guppies or platys (all males so they won't reproduce). These fish tend to do better in higher water hardness, so they won't mind the substrate. If you wanted to do something really different, are you aware that guppies can be converted to full saltwater if acclimated slowly (over a period of a week or so). I currently have I trio of guppies that spawn regularly in saltwater - and unlike most people who have guppy fry, my LFS is happy to take mine to sell to people who are looking for small saltwater fish to use for cycling nano reef tanks. It makes quite a conversation starter when you have someone see a tank with guppies swimming around with live corals. As far as saltwater species, there really isn't much suitable for a 5 gallon other than possibly one clown goby or very small shrimp goby, and these really should have a 10 gallon at least. A tang will get too large for any tank smaller than a 55. And with such a small size, you'll have trouble keeping the temperature and water chemistry (especially salinity) constant. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the water is a function of water movement at the surface. If you used an airstone previously, a filter will give you more O2 in the water with better circulation than the airstone did. The movement of bubbles is upward and they burst so quickly that the bubbles themselves do little to increase the amount of dissolved O2. It's only because the bubbles spread out before they burst, and the water being pulled up through the tubes (if an undergravel filter was used) in turn caused the oxygenated water to move down to replace it that the air pump does any oxygenating at all. The power of the filter is much greater in terms of the total amount of surface area disturbed, and the ability to circulate the oxygenated water at the top throughout the tank.

Answer 3

Tufa Rock

Answer 4

Generally speaking, one should not put seashells or coral into a freshwater tank. They are composed of calcium carbonate which will dissolve and increase the PH of the water. Save coral/shells for your saltwater tank.

Answer 5

No, limestone will raise Ph and hardness usually to unsfe levels for most fish. If you have very soft, acidic water and you want to keep african cichlids that need very hard, alkaline water then you might be able to get away with it.

If you want, go ahead and give it a try in a separate bucket and test for Ph, GH, and KH to see if it raises to unsafe levels. Most likely it will, but it might work.

Answer 6

i doubt it, ususally that kind of rock is full of salt and stuff, correct me if i am wrong, i probably am lol. www.google.ca - google it.