Radney711 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I guess I will start this thread here since it will turn into a tank build. I have a small 10G breeder that i am going to turn into a coral only nano with maybe a shrimp goby pair. The catch is I had a idea that I wanted to go black sand and black lava rock and have only super bright neon colors so the colors really contrast. I have the black sand, but I have checked from Austin to La Grange at every landscape rock dealer and no one has or can order black lava rock over 2 or 3"........... I figure I will have to find someone that has it laying around the house somewhere and buy it from them. So I reach out the the community and ask If anyone has or knows where I can find black lava rock thats bigger than what people use on there walkways. Other option is to take some putty and make a big rock out of a bunch of smaller rocks. This is going to be a experiment tank also to see how well the lava rock will do once it cycles since it is so porous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Hi, Are you not concerned with the saltwater breaking down the mineral composition of the lava rock, and wreaking havoc on your chemistry? How do you tell if the lava rock you choose contain's heavy metal's or not? Seems like it would absord anything sprayed or dropped on it pretty easy so I would be careful about where it came from. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radney711 Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 That is a really good point! I have been thinking about that all day ha ha. I have also been pondering since it is volcanic if it would leach any kind of sulfur that could harm the livestock.... I have been debating with myself all day if I should actually go through the trouble of trying to find this lava rock and test it or just get some live rock and still use the black sand... I would def soak the lava rock in bleach water for a while to kill everything on it. Soak for a long time to get the bleach out and dry it out before putting it in the tank for cycling. I know that doing that would not help the leaching of whatever could be in it over time and would never try this on a large scale tank and if I do go ahead with it would add very few corals to see how they did. Maybe GSP and xenia. I am going to do some more research before I go through with the lava idea but the 10 gallon black sand nano will continue Thanks for the feedback! If you or anyone else can think of a way I could have a black rock without those side effects please let me know. I know the artificial live rock at Aqua dome says it is artificially colored purple. If I could find the right way to dye the rock I would do that. I just think it would be so cool to see Coraline algae growing on a black rock with bright corals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radney711 Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 So I have found a few different cases of people wanting to do the same as I am. Many people have brought up the same point and there have been many arguments about it lol. In the arguing I have found many people say its bad to do and a few people show pictures of lava rock in their tank with it covered in Coraline with no problems, but I have not seen anyone say that they tried it and it ruined their tank... Soooo If I can find what I am looking for I might try it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Keep us posted and please share both the good and the bad that happen's. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radney711 Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 If I can ever find some black lava rock I would have this thing rolling but I cannot find any anywhere... I will post as soon as I do though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 no idea if they would consider shipping but here's a company that sells 6"-24" pieces: http://www.bedrockboulders.com/Boulders_Black_Lava.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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