jabberwock
2500 Club Member
Good point. When I had to break down I used for the fire pit ring.
FOUND some great rock in the woods!
- Thread starter SueAndHerZoo
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BigAl07
Active Member
How do you know what to test for?
While it could be perfectly clean/safe to use, it's it could be "loaded" with a plethora of different items. I hope it's extremely clean and perfectly useable rock but it's just not worth the risk since there's no way to know what to test, how to test, and how much such testing would cost if you knew what to test for.
OP
OP
SueAndHerZoo
Active Member
I'm guessing they live in an apartment and had no way to dispose of that many pounds of sand and rock? It wasn't deep into the woods, it was the edge of a park, over the guardrails leading to the wooded area.
BubblesandSqueak
Valuable Member
or divorce gone awry
Gumbies R Us
Another Fish in the Sea
That's crazy you found rocks like that out in the woods!
randomfishdude
Valuable Member
I've never seen rock plants out in the wild. Must not grow in texas.
OP
OP
SueAndHerZoo
Active Member
I agree - I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before so when I first saw it I thought I was seeing things and kept walking. But it nagged at me so I turned around to examine more closely, tied the dogs to a tree, and hopped over the little barrier to sift through. Sure enough, here were rocks, some glued together, all of them pretty much covered with vermetid skeletons. (Those suckers are SHARP!) Still thinking I must be dreaming, I went to the pile of sand and found several empty conch shells. Yup, someone was done with this hobby and thought they'd send the remains back to nature.
Driving home with my treasures, I couldn't believe my luck and was trying to think of who I could share this incredible news with that would "get it" and understand. Of course, I came up with no one except the people on this forum.
I've been burning the candle at both ends lately doing a lot of volunteer work (animal rescue) so I figured this was the Universe's way of either saying "Good job, here's your reward", or "OK, enough with the rescue work, pay attention to your tanks again!" Message received.
Sue
Driving home with my treasures, I couldn't believe my luck and was trying to think of who I could share this incredible news with that would "get it" and understand. Of course, I came up with no one except the people on this forum.
I've been burning the candle at both ends lately doing a lot of volunteer work (animal rescue) so I figured this was the Universe's way of either saying "Good job, here's your reward", or "OK, enough with the rescue work, pay attention to your tanks again!" Message received. Sue
Well they threw it away for a reason right? Feel free to experiment at your own risk.
This hobby can be, and is, very expensive. Dead rock if you want to use it is cheap, imo.
Good luck on whatever you decide.
This hobby can be, and is, very expensive. Dead rock if you want to use it is cheap, imo.
Good luck on whatever you decide.
Dburr1014
7500 Club Member
This was out in the middle of the woods and someone is worried about pesticides?
Who in there right mind would spray pesticides in the middle of the woods?
Meanwhile Ralph was walking his dog and Came Upon a pile of reef rocks. Ralph thought to himself, "this is a great place to unload this spray can of pesticides."
The next day Sue Came Upon a pile of Reef rocks unwittedly knowing it was covered with pesticides the day before...
LOLOLOLOL
Who in there right mind would spray pesticides in the middle of the woods?
Meanwhile Ralph was walking his dog and Came Upon a pile of reef rocks. Ralph thought to himself, "this is a great place to unload this spray can of pesticides."
The next day Sue Came Upon a pile of Reef rocks unwittedly knowing it was covered with pesticides the day before...
LOLOLOLOL
The problem unknown you have is, what other foreign chemicals, minerals or elements might leach from those rocks. My LFSO relayed a story of one customer picking up a bunch of shale and adding it to a tank. Even after cleaning it and soaking it, his water chemistry was thrown so out of wak, it killed everything in tank.
OP
OP
SueAndHerZoo
Active Member
I guess it's risky, but I don't know how many deadly things could be in the rock that bleach, acid, sunlight won't kill. And I would not be putting all the "mystery rock" into an existing tank.... I would only add one piece here and there when creating new aquascapes. Adding anything more than one piece would set off a cycle in the tank and I don't want that.
I may never use it, or maybe I will set up a new tank from scratch again someday (since we all know how addicting this hobby is) and then I would use this rock during cycling and test the water for different elements. I really just think someone was done with their tank and, not wanting to load up their trash cans with heavy rock and sand, dumped it at the nearest convenient place where it wouldn't be noticed by anyone (except a reefer walking her dogs!)
Sue
I may never use it, or maybe I will set up a new tank from scratch again someday (since we all know how addicting this hobby is) and then I would use this rock during cycling and test the water for different elements. I really just think someone was done with their tank and, not wanting to load up their trash cans with heavy rock and sand, dumped it at the nearest convenient place where it wouldn't be noticed by anyone (except a reefer walking her dogs!)
Sue
BigAl07
Active Member
Maybe Ralph could spend just a moment or two more to read a little more closely and not go off with half-correct facts? Details really are important.
1) Per the OP's first picture it's near some type of "Railroad Tie or Pressure Treated Landscaping Timber" and doesn't appear to be in or in the middle of the woods. Those aren't usually found "middle of the woods" but near urban areas where chemicals (especially herbicides for weed control) are very common and likely to be used. Many area management/landscape companies will use "Chemical Weed Control" for speed and economy. Spraying Herbicide along the "Parking Area" (which is where this was located after all) is totally feasible.
2) Then we have the OP's very own statement of
"It wasn't deep into the woods, it was the edge of a park, over the guardrails leading to the wooded area." Again, the OP's details matter in this conversation and shouldn't be discarded or turned around.
So it seems that Ralph and Sue could very well be dealing with some rocks that "potentially" are laden with chemicals etc since they were NOT "in the middle of the woods" at all. With the actual facts at hand, this " bizarre chemical scenario" is a lot more possible and a lot less comical as least from my narrow point of view.
LOLOLOLOL
@SueAndHerZoo I don't mean to bring a rain cloud to your parade in the least. I would just hate to read a post where you had a total tank crash in an attempt to save a few dollars on "questionable" rocks. I genuinely HOPE they are the cleanest and purest rocks on the planet and you get many years of use and enjoyment out of them.
I tend to give advice leaning heavily on the "cautious side" just because it's the safe and right thing to do. It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and give advice to "go for it" if you have no skin in the game but that's not always the "Right" advice for the situation. I wish you nothing but the very best of luck and success with your new found treasures.
OP
OP
SueAndHerZoo
Active Member
Thank you, Al, for such a well-written, insightful post. I may never use these rocks, but I certainly couldn't resist bringing them home with me once I saw them. And the first thing I did was post on here so that I could read and hear all the differing thoughts on this matter.
Even if they were sprayed with pesticides, wouldn't soaking them in barrels of bleach water and then sitting them in the sun for days dissipate all of that? I almost feel like I owe it to everyone to do something with some of this rock just to see what the ending to this story is!
Hey, any excuse to start another tank, right?
Sue
SteveMM62Reef
Valuable Member
I’d soak the Rocks in RO/DI Water. The pure water will pick up contamination. The Conch Shells, if small, tell me it was an invert tank. If you are still worries about Copper, soak in a Citric Acid Solution. I know Citric Acid, will dissolve Copper Oxide.
1000% me too and I wouldn't worry about anything passed pressure washing and maybe an acid bath to remove vermited tubes.
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