aquarium stone

teddysmum

I have recently emptied and cleaned my aquarium, but am reluctant to put the (once) decorative stone back as it is covered in algae. There is hardly any sign of the lovely pink ad white colouring.


I have tried scrubbing with a toothbrush, in the past, with no result and this time, left the stone to dry out, in the (failed) hope that when completely dry the covering would peel off.


Does anyone have a solution that would not harm the fish (platies) ?

DKLS

Scrubbing brush should do it, perhaps with a little vinegar.

alleycat`

If it's something like rose quartz it should just come off with hot water and a scrubbing brush.

Alternative would be Pressure washer if you have one (and assuming the stone is of a decent enough size).

I then just drop it into a bucket of "new" tank water (with the tap safe stuff added).

Fosterdog

Pour on boiling water and scrub

atrixblue.-MFR-.

DKLS wrote: »

Scrubbing brush should do it, perhaps with a little vinegar.

advise against doing this as certain rocks absorb some chemicals, (wash a sea side pebble all you like, give it a lick and it tastes of sea salt after a good clean for e.g) adding anything strongly acidic into a tank you run a risk irritating your fish's scales and or causing water quality issues no matter the quantity of the chemical used.


assuming your completely cleaning the tank out including the filter then I strongly advice you reconsider adding fish into your tank after that procedure. research cycling a fish tank, cleaning procedures and the do's and donts of cleaning out a fish tank filter.


with regard to algea growth on stone, it will occure over and over again I used to buy multiple stones, and place them in the tank at different time scales as not to allow the stones color to degrade with time and algea, I would rotate the stones every few weeks, and then remove on add another allow time for the growth to dry and die then clean with deironised water and hard brush.

Hyak2

Maybe this will be an unpopular opinion. But stand the rock overnight/24hours in bleach solution after scrubbing as much of the crud off as you can. After this rinse and scrub off thoroughly and then soak in clean water with 10 x normal dose of dechlorinator , change this water a couple of times scrubbing and rinsing off every time. Finally soak and rinse as much as you can in clean water again before putting it back in the tank. Dechlorinator neutralises the bleach. Your rock will look as good as new.

Personally I prefer natural effect with a small amount of algae around the tank.

teddysmum

I don't know what kind of rock it is, but it has stripes of white and dusky pink.


The pressure washer may work, if I put the rocks in a bucket. I had tried a spot of vinegar on a small area and scraped with a wire, but it had little effect.


The fish have gone back in, as I only discarded the usual 20% of water, letting the rest settle in buckets to remove sediment. The gravel was cleaned by swishing in 'used' water and the filter washed in the same, as it is on a regular basis (sponge only type).