Brick inside my Reef??

[Caravanshaka]

My niece was on a hike recently with her family, and ran across a brick sitting out near the trail that happened to have my name on it. She was so excited to take it and give it to me! When she did, I got the brilliant idea of putting it in the tank and letting a cyphastrea or encrusting Monti grow all over it.

I am not sure what kind of brick it is, or what the material makeup of it is. I’m certainly not dropping it into an established tank, but I wanted to get some feedback on if this is possible. If so, how would you go about curing it and prepping it for the tank?

My thoughts were to bleach soak it, then prime soak it, then set it up in a bucket with some saltwater and a powerhead in the garage. Give it a month or 2, then send in a water sample for an ICP test to see if there are any nasties in it.

What do you guys think??

 

[WV Reefer]

My niece was on a hike recently with her family, and ran across a brick sitting out near the trail that happened to have my name on it. She was so excited to take it and give it to me! When she did, I got the brilliant idea of putting it in the tank and letting a cyphastrea or encrusting Monti grow all over it.

I am not sure what kind of brick it is, or what the material makeup of it is. I’m certainly not dropping it into an established tank, but I wanted to get some feedback on if this is possible. If so, how would you go about curing it and prepping it for the tank?

My thoughts were to bleach soak it, then prime soak it, then set it up in a bucket with some saltwater and a powerhead in the garage. Give it a month or 2, then send in a water sample for an ICP test to see if there are any nasties in it.

What do you guys think??

I’d be too afraid but it is a cool brick!

I’m sure there are experts that can tell you what material it is made from and as long as you thought you could kill the nasties you could try it in a tub of saltwater first while testing the water religiously and looking for break down of the material.

 

[redfishbluefish]

It appears to be a "clay" brick. I'm pretty sure @Paul B has clay bricks in his tank....for over a century.



FYI, I'm pretty sure that's a St. Joe Brickworks brick.

 

[Caravanshaka]

It appears to be a "clay" brick. I'm pretty sure @Paul B has clay bricks in his tank....for over a century.



FYI, I'm pretty sure that's a St. Joe Brickworks brick.

Awesome find! @Paul B any suggestions?

 

[mckinney0171]

yeah mike paletta uses bricks / garden stones as supports for his rock structures. no issues that I can see.

 

[ncaldwell]

Ve used random rocks before, clean it off well and drop it in a bucket of saltwater. Test the phosphate for a couple weeks and see if it stays level and isn't leeching. I could be wrong but there shouldnt be any issues. Better safe than sorry

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

It appears to be a "clay" brick. I'm pretty sure @Paul B has clay bricks in his tank....for over a century.



FYI, I'm pretty sure that's a St. Joe Brickworks brick.

Now that, Sir, is impressive! In 22 minutes you not only identified the brick manufacturer but also provided a representative photo. You've been waiting for a chance to showcase that narrowly specific knowledge base of masonry trivia, I'm sure!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Now that, Sir, is impressive! In 22 minutes you not only identified the brick manufacturer but also provided a representative photo. You've been waiting for a chance to showcase that narrowly specific knowledge base of masonry trivia, I'm sure!

Well I just so happen to live in a brick town....where the town was named for one of the owners of the brick company....Sayre Fisher Brick Co. in Sayreville, NJ. Company no longer in business....ran out of clay (I think mid 70's), but our most common bricks look like these two:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I cannot be sure if the brick is OK or not, but it probably is.

Bear in mind that whether your brick is OK is really not determined by whether anyone elses is OK, any more than saying "I was once in a room with someone coughing and I didn't get sick, so you shouldn't either"

 

[chefjpaul]

I cannot be sure if the brick is OK or not, but it probably is.

Bear in mind that whether your brick is OK is really not determined by whether anyone elses is OK, any more than saying "I was once in a room with someone coughing and I didn't get sick, so you shouldn't either"

...

[emoji8] [emoji8]

 

[Caravanshaka]

I cannot be sure if the brick is OK or not, but it probably is.

Bear in mind that whether your brick is OK is really not determined by whether anyone elses is OK, any more than saying "I was once in a room with someone coughing and I didn't get sick, so you shouldn't either"

Thanks, Randy. How do you feel about my intended approach to curing and testing it? Anything you would change?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well I just so happen to live in a brick town....where the town was named for one of the owners of the brick company....Sayre Fisher Brick Co. in Sayreville, NJ. Company no longer in business....ran out of clay (I think mid 70's), but our most common bricks look like these two:

Cool. I used to have a vacation home on Lake Ontario in NY, and we used to find old, worn and rounded bricks in the water from some long ago structures. It was fun to try to figure out where they came from and how old they might be.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Randy. How do you feel about my intended approach to curing and testing it? Anything you would change?

Yes, the plan in the first post sounds good. I'd take a stiff brush (not metal) to it before soaking.

 

[Caravanshaka]

Thanks, All!! Going to try this out....if I remember, I will post the ICP results when I get them!

 

[Hans-Werner]

I did the "reefscape" of our experimental setups with clay bricks and I used clay bricks in spare tanks earlier. After some time they just get covered by calcareous red algae. I can´t tell about your specific clay brick but I think most clay bricks are reefsafe even when they are new. I think you old weathered brick will hardly leach anything.

 

[PSXerholic]

@Caravanshaka,

I personally would be extremely careful with common bricks in the Reef Tank.
As you may not know, bricks are made out of Industrial Waste products and mostly these days contain tons of undesired and even hazardous substances and elements such as lead, mercury and and and.........

So do yourself a favor and research how bricks have been made since this seems to be an older guy, and how they are made now.

For me, from experience with a local guy who thought bricks are a great idea, lol, it ended in a mess, BRICKS of any kind are a no no.