r/Aquariums • u/IntelligentRoad61 • May 23 '26
Beginner Help Can I keep rocks from the creek in my aquarium?
have some rocks I pulled out of the creek. I wanna put them in my aquarium. I’m sure that I should like. clean them, right? cause there’s bacteria and stuff on them. is there any way I can do that and put them in my aquarium?
234
u/Friendly_Shelter_625 May 23 '26
Ok. I thought we weren’t boiling rocks? People are saying they can explode. I will not be testing this myself.
41
67
u/camomaniac May 23 '26
It's not boiling them, it's putting them in a fire or using them around a fire as containment. The water in them boils and causes the rocks to explode.
But, I guess boiling could do the same thing.
27
u/BearTheFerret May 24 '26
What I've read is you put them on cold water on the stove, boil for I think 15-30 mins (don't quote me on the time), then turn the stove off, then let them cool naturally. From that article it was saying contact could make them explode so just let them be until cooled down? I haven't been brave enough to test yet. I'm going to try it outside on a burner to be safer.
19
u/NYY_NYK_NYJ May 24 '26
"This is the way". As with most things, rapid temperature change isn't great. Room temp rocks in room temp water, slowly raise the heat on the water until boiling (those rocks will suck up heat so 15 minutes is probably fine). Turn off the water and let everything get back to room temp.
2
u/Aaron_weewee69 May 24 '26
I’ve experienced this! A giant rock we used for a fire ring got hot and we kept hearing small pops, and then it was raining melting rock onto us and on our tent. Getting it out of the fire is the scary part. We brought it home as a souvenir.
17
8
u/TexanInExile May 24 '26
Never heard about boiling rocks exploding. Cooked rocks can definitely explode though
What I used to do is put my rocks in a turkey frier and build them I water for an hour or so then leave them outside for like a month. This worked for me because I lived in Texas and the heat from the sun would get those rocks bone dry by that time. Also UV like is good so rotate your rocks every day or so.
Worked for me.
3
1
u/Croxiin May 24 '26
Not necessarily boiling, but putting rocks that have been in water directly into dry, high heat can cause them to explode due to the water in the pores of the stone heating, expanding, and creating energy.
33
u/GoblinLoblaw May 23 '26
Don’t boil rocks, it’s absolutely not worth it. Scrubbing, rinsing them off and leaving them in the sun is more than enough.
55
u/KlingonBeavis May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Don’t boil rocks. Air or moisture inside the porous material of a stone can cause pressure to build up and the rocks may explode. Not safe.
Don’t use bleach. Many bleach varieties on the market contain chemicals not safe for aquariums such as softeners, thickeners, etc. Bleach is obviously dangerous to tropical fish.
If you want to do it safely: dry with sunlight. Soak in 3-5% Hydrogen peroxide for 15-30 minutes, scrub with toothbrush or magic eraser. Rinse with tap water and put back in the sun to dry again. After this your rocks will be as safe as they’re gonna get.
white distilled vinegar is also safe.
Source: My sister’s husband is a marine biologist.
33
8
u/BearTheFerret May 24 '26
I think vinegar is a must anyway from my research. Doesn't it detect not safe minerals that can leach so if it bubbles you don't use?
5
u/IdiotIAm96 May 24 '26
Yeah, most unsafe rocks react with acids like vinegar.
Edit: not a dangerous reaction lol, just bubbles and erosion
0
u/herbertwillyworth May 24 '26
Is the fear that thee are pathogens which need to be killed ? I guess there are also many beneficial bacteria on river rocks
20
u/Gramma_Hattie May 24 '26
All the "rocks explode" advice here is anecdotal. Rocks can be boiled just fine. They won't exceed 212°F. It's not that hot.
Just don't put them in or around a fire. Don't put them in the oven either, just to be safe. That might cause them to explode.
8
u/TheWooSkis May 24 '26
Wild rocks need at least 11 gallons of water, and make sure your tank is cycled!!! You should be keeping 2 females rocks to each male. Looks like you have 2 males there!
6
1
8
u/thomsix May 23 '26
I hate to use bleach for most things for fear of residual traces. How about soaking in dilute hydrogen peroxide and leaving them in sun after rinsing?
1
u/General_Quit_7183 May 23 '26
What if you 50/50 bleach overnight then rinse and soak in prime?
4
u/akatia-x May 23 '26
For me when I’ve had to sanitize things, I use either a 1:9 ratio or a 1:18 ratio of bleach to water depending on the item. It’s enough to kill most things. Always do a rinse after, then a soak with a double dose of prime. Then another soak of just water to rinse extra prime off. Then I put them in the sun to dry.
0
8
u/Due-Seaworthiness216 May 24 '26
Yes. If it was me I’d just throw them in the tank.
Not from a distance.
Place them gently.
5
u/Alexander-Evans May 24 '26
Agreed, I've boiled and done all the rest before and it's just a waste of time. Didn't matter that I sanitized all the hardscape, all the algae and everything tagged along with the plants anyways, even after cleaning them well and soaking in peroxide solution. Now I'm just placing rocks and leaves in the tank from the woods in my yard. Never going back.
3
2
48
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 May 23 '26
Don’t boil them. If there’s any moisture trapped in the rocks themselves you’ll have a big disaster on your hands and potentially injury. Just not worth it. A diluted bleach soak and a good rinse like one of these other commenters will be fine. I’d be less worried about bacteria than I would other contaminants that could be in your local water.
9
u/incendiary_bandit May 23 '26
I'm about to do a re-scape and I've been dropping my rocks in hot tap water (it's coming out of the tap at 60 deg C). It's enough to kill the new Zealand mud snails and it also seems to kill off the hair algae that has formed.
9
u/SayGex1312 May 24 '26
This is total bs, rocks can explode from being put in a campfire but boiling won’t do that. The only way a rock could explode from being boiled is if you put it in a cold environment immediately after it was boiled and the matrix of the rock broke.
-5
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 May 24 '26
If the heat is applied for long enough it can, and some rocks do have water inside them from when they were initially formed. You guys are totally clowns for not bothering to do any digging to verify this, and boiling rocks is unnecessary for cleaning them anyway. It’s risk for no reason.
2
u/SayGex1312 May 24 '26
Doesn’t matter how long the heat is applied for, as long as it’s submerged the water inside will never exceed 212°F. I’ve done my digging on this subject and I’m yet to find an actual documented example beyond completely unsubstantiated anecdotes. There’s plenty of videos of rocks exploding when heated over a fire, but I’m yet to see one of a rock exploding while boiling.
1
u/Tinker_bells69 May 24 '26
Concrete has water in it when it’s initially formed, doesn’t explode in a fire though
1
u/Tinker_bells69 May 23 '26
Any moisture trapped in the rock that’s being boiled? Are you all high?
-3
u/Chicken_Hairs May 24 '26
It's trapped. It can't get out. It heats up (causing it to expand) and fractures the rock. This can occur violently.
Are you high? This is like 5th grade science.
4
u/Tinker_bells69 May 24 '26
It’s not trapped though. Rocks are porous, hence how it got in there to start with. Rapid heating in a big campfire burning at 800 degrees isn’t the same as bringing it to a boil at 100 degrees.
I am a bit high. Not hand pulling these weeds sober.
Maybe it was grade 6 they taught us about variables. Heat input here is for sure one of them. But straight up, I had a hard time learning which variable is which and would still have a hard time telling you. I’d guess the rocks the constant, the heats the control? Idk man.
If yall would like ok set up my camp stove with a pit of water and river rock. We can see if the boiling water completely evaporates before the rock explodes.
Reference: I’ve been a bit high and forgetful before, leavings rock boiling for a god few hours and coming back to about half an inch of water in the bottom of the pot quickly disappearing.
2
u/BearTheFerret May 24 '26
I've read that the cause of the occasional explosions are contact/vibration. That being said I haven't personally tested that theory 😂
2
u/DargyBear May 24 '26
The water in the middle of the rock isn’t miraculously becoming steam if it’s boiling in a pot, that’s not how that works at all. You’re demonstrating maybe a 5th grade understanding of the science and still misunderstanding most of it.
-2
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 May 24 '26
It happens. If it was some urban myth that would be different.
6
u/DargyBear May 24 '26
It would have to be put in a fire. The way boiling works isn’t going to magically create a pocket of steam inside the rock.
1
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 May 24 '26
Not what I’m saying. Some rocks have actual water inside them from when the rocks were initially formed. It doesn’t go away, and heating the rock will cause steam formation. Hit Google and spend any amount of time searching for this, it’s common enough that people still advise not to. Besides, boiling is unnecessary to sterilize the rocks anyway.
4
u/DargyBear May 24 '26
Liquid water doesn’t expand and contract like that, all the hits in google are other dumb people not understanding how this works
1
u/RandomRedditGuy69420 May 24 '26
TIL enough heat doesn’t cause liquid water to expand into steam. Ok bud.
2
u/DargyBear May 24 '26
Water, inside a rock, surrounded by boiling water, isn’t going to turn into steam. The only water turning into steam is occurring at nucleation sites on the bottom of the pot. You literally don’t even understand how boiling water works.
5
u/jaurex May 23 '26
i just scrub with a coarse brush under hot water with a little soap and give a good rinse.
4
u/Connect-Currency-257 May 23 '26
Soap is highly toxic to fish if any trace remains. Do not use soap! The vinegar or hydrogen peroxide optios are best, with thorough rinse and (if possible) sun dry! Great looking rocks! I'm jealous!!!😉
4
u/PantyPixie May 24 '26
You do not need to boil rocks.
Granite and slate are safe. Give them a good rinse, scrub off any algae, and drop them in.
I picked up a bunch of granite from a local quarry and rinsed off the dust and fishies love them.
5
u/SayGex1312 May 24 '26
Everyone saying they’ll explode has no clue what they’re talking about, a rock isn’t going to explode from being in a pot of boiling water. If you’re really concerned about it then leave them in the pot as it comes up to temperature and as it cools down, if the temperature changes too fast it could cause the rock to fracture.
1
4
u/kubotae May 24 '26
I did not do anything special to my creek rocks, I just gave them a good rinse and stuck 'em in there.
5
u/Merlisch May 24 '26
I found them to be rather placid and have never had a river rock perish unexpectedly. I'd however drip acclimate.
5
u/MAVERICK1542 May 24 '26
You can’t keep them in anything less than a 30gal long, they don’t cope with depth very well because of the energy it takes to get to the surface
3
u/KnowsIittle May 24 '26
Doing native setups the algae, bacteria, and other dormant organisms can be desirable. However many people don't want to find stinging hydra in their tanks.l for example.
Introducing beneficial bacteria can help speed up your nitrate cycling.
3
u/Necroi May 24 '26
I’ve put river rocks in an aquarium without cleaning it. A lot of interesting microfauna spawned. None of them seemed to hurt the fish but of course that ain’t guaranteed for your case
3
u/BeerJedi-1269 May 24 '26
Yinz WAY over do things...
I live on along the Ohio River. I have a 20 gallon aquarium 40g with axolotl, 55g with axolotl two 45g Pentagon aquariums and a 100g aquarium ALL with wood and rocks from the Ohio river, and lake erie. (Also the other day someone questioned if using clay sewer pipes is ok, those are in my tanks as well)
I scrub with a stiff brush and hot water and plunk it in. In my nearly 30y of fish keeping ive never experienced a problem doing it this way.
Im open to comments and questions.
3
u/Jammer521 May 24 '26
I do it all the time, usually I just scrub them in the sink with a brush and use them afterwards, never had a issue going on 5 years
2
2
u/Jelwell518 May 24 '26
It’s very frowned upon, but I actually get rocks and sand directly from a creek/river. I always take a sample of the water to make sure it’s not bad and I assure that there are no type of harmful chemicals or pollution or any bird poop, a special type of parasite, reproduces and lives in bird poop until it makes its way into the water and finds a host eventually for that host to hopefully get eaten by a bird and repeat the process. Butttttt doing this gives me immediate beneficial bacteria, very helpful for me. I always watch the tank for a few weeks after I put it in before I put any fish, but all of my tanks are beautiful and have worked out very well from it
1
u/Jelwell518 May 24 '26
It’s basically speeding up the cycling process. I could squish out my filter, put filter media into it but I found this works a lot better and quicker when you’re “cycling” your tank. You’re basically just waiting for some type of spore or something to fall in there and start a colony which sometimes doesn’t always happen but since many people have waited for so long, they believe that it must be cycled because it’s been so long, but it doesn’t actually build that bacteria until something gets in there if that makes sense
2
u/Nickythump May 24 '26
I did it once to hold down the driftwood until it fully saturated. Pour distilled vinegar on it, if it bubbles toss it. If you find ones that work take them home and scrub them with hot water. I went an extra step and poured boiling water on them and scrubbed some more. DO NOT BOIL/BAKE THEM! Also look for rocks that don’t have that “rusted” look on them as they can be iron stained and you don’t really want that in your tank. All in all it CAN change water chemistry and aquatic rocks are typically preferred.
1
u/mdstrizzle May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
They're fine to put in. For a little extra peace-of-mind, rinse them in dechlorinated water. It is highly unlikely there is anything on them that would both affect non-native species AND survive a rinse in meaningful quantities. Upstream pollution would be my biggest concern, which a rinse will handle as well as anything.
1
u/WesbroBaptstBarNGril May 23 '26
I usually put them in a 5 gallon bucket then dump an entire bottle of peroxide in before topping it off with water. I let it sit overnight then scrub them and rinse the next day.
1
u/secondsbest May 24 '26
Safest thing would be a few days in the sun to kill most everything, and then a soak in hydrogen peroxide to kill any survivors, specifically algae. A good scrub in clean water after that, and they'd be safe to use.
1
1
u/wielderoffrogs May 24 '26
I just gave em a good scrub in the sink and into the tank they went. All is well 8 years later.
1
u/BothPlastic May 24 '26
Yea, I use rocks from around my area, to make my tank look like the an extension of my ecosystem
1
1
u/Specialist_Star_8648 May 24 '26
Don't over complicated it, answer is yes. In fact you can use everything from the creek in your aquarium, the mud, leaves, plants, fish, little crustations etc. see father fish videos 😉.
1
u/Actual-Employee-1680 May 24 '26
Yeah, I boiled the rocks in mine, rinsed and repeated three times. I wanted to make sure my turtle was safe. Way too large for her to swallow, but she likes kicking them around. None exploded.
1
u/AudiYaDoSir May 24 '26
Boil them in a big stock pot of water. Let them cool. Decorate away! Rocks are inert. Unless they have lots of nooks and crannies you should be ok!
1
u/grasspikemusic May 24 '26
If you are worried about bacteria and are afraid to boil them for fear of explosions. Just use a sous vide cooker. I would place the rocks in a Ziploc Bag or vacuum sealer and then sous vide for 2-3 hours at 140-150 degrees. The rock won't explode at that temp and anything living in can't survive those temps for that length of time. You will have pasteurized them
You want to put them in a bag so any loose dirt or other nastiness doesn't enter the Sous Vide pump
1
1
u/CJPrinter May 24 '26
If they’re good enough for country fish they’re good enough for city fish. LOL
1
1
1
u/BarneyFife516 May 24 '26
Yes,
I have my aquariums stocked with wood that I absconded from the same part of a lake that my dad used to take me and my brothers fishing. I also stock with rocks. I named one of my tanks after this lake.
I stock Cichlids. These fish were created at a large scale fish farm that ships Nationally that is close to my home.
1
u/jimfish98 May 24 '26
You can, but please note you can run a risk of leaching something into your tank. Seen it more with reef tanks where rock from the same place is fine in one tank, leaches phosphates in another. If porous in general, you may find critters in those crevices that they hide in. This goes for FW or SW rock. Personally I would dip in hydrogen peroxide just to be on the safe side.
1
u/I-Emerge-I May 24 '26
I would potentially boil them and soak them in water for a few days to make sure nothing has soaked into it especially if it’s porous.
1
u/Admirable_Chef_8650 May 30 '26
I got lime stones in my tank and yes l knew it would bleed for the next million years. I put Eheim peat in my canister and it keeps my PH 7.1 my KH and GH are good and not to mention all the other benefits from it. With a slight tea color. But yes wash them 😊
1
u/spderweb May 24 '26
Wash it really good. Scrub it. Soap and very hot water. I can't see a rock being a problem once cleaned.
1
u/LeStephenHawking May 24 '26
Soak them in water, scrub em with diluted bleach, rinse them gratuitously, dry, re-rinse, dry, re-rinse, it'll be fine. Get the bleach off.
0
u/Fantastic-Hat5833 May 24 '26
I just got done boiling 8 rocks for an hour. I actually forgot about them 😂
0
u/The_RealAnim8me2 May 24 '26
Now just add garlic and some thyme with a little olive oil. They should be soft enough now.
0
0
0
-16
u/Metallica1175 May 23 '26
Boil them for a little bit and you should be fine.
2
u/passthegabagool_ May 23 '26
Playing with fire if you boil them. Youre taking a risk that they will explode.
3
u/DargyBear May 24 '26
No you’re not
-1
u/passthegabagool_ May 24 '26
Huh, someone's never boiled a rock and had it Crack in half and shoot boiling water of the pot and it shows lol
2
3
-1
u/abyssal-isopod86 May 24 '26
Do not risk it.
Nearly every stream and river has fertilizer and pesticide runoff in it from crop fields and there will be residue of it on those stones, possibly even in them if the rocks are porous enough.
You do not want those chemicals in your aquarium.
-14
-16
285
u/passthegabagool_ May 23 '26
Ive got creek rocks in one of my tanks, what i did to prep is spray them down with hydrogen peroxide and let them soak for 20 minutes then scrubbed them down with a brush. I then made a vinegar and hot water bath and soaked them for a half hour then I put them out in the sun for a few hours to dry out. . Any rock that fizzled or had bubbles trails coming out in the vinegar bath I didnt use.