# LF ROCKS volcanic or pelelith



## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

Looking for someRed Lava Rock, i want make a view in my africa cichild tank, thanks a lot


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

Try at Rona Home Depot or your local Landscape place.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I just picked up some mexican bowl rock at Northwest Landscape Supply this weekend. The rock looks very similar to what you have there. Also, 50 cents a pound!


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Greenway landscape has some, $5 a bucket I think. 
I could never settle on whether the use of lava rock is safe or not no matter how much research is done and it drives me crazy. Let me know how it goes..


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

PSpades said:


> Greenway landscape has some, $5 a bucket I think.
> I could never settle on whether the use of lava rock is safe or not no matter how much research is done and it drives me crazy. Let me know how it goes..


When I tried Lava Rock it turned my tank water red. You might need to soak them for a while to let the color leach out. Boiling them might do it quickly not sure though. Would be interested in seeing the setup when completed.


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

sunshine_1965 said:


> When I tried Lava Rock it turned my tank water red. You might need to soak them for a while to let the color leach out. Boiling them might do it quickly not sure though. Would be interested in seeing the setup when completed.


Besides the redness, I've heard that they may contain metals that overtime will leech into the water? I don't know what to believe. Some have used them without problems, and some had their entire tank shut down because of it. I really want to make a background out of it but the risk isn't worth taking if it ended up killing all the livestock.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

They will leach metals if there are metals. If it turned the water red, it's because of the red clays associated with the breakdown of volcanic muds. What you need to do is source rock which are not from metalliferous belts, which shouldn't be too hard, since everyone is concerned about ARD (Acid Rock Drainage) nowadays. Plus, if metals were so easy to find, us geologists really would not have any work.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Back to the OP. I had to to look up pelelith. Wow. Any reason why you need the centre of the volcanic plug? That WOULD be hard to find. 

The Mexican Bowl rock that Tony refers to appears to volcano-sedimentary based rock...ie, the lava rolled onto sediments, binding it all into rocks as the lava cooled. So it does contain some carbonates, more so then pure basalt. I have probably 50 lbs of it in my 125 and it has some weak buffering capacity, but it's certainly not going to take your pH up to 8. Give it a good wash to remove the fines and loose stuff and you'll be golden. Great pricing too. And easy to shape, as I was hinting to Tony.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Awesome pricing. The pieces they have are huge though, so your tank better be able to handle it. Probably on average the pieces are 10 to 12" in diameter. Many even bigger. Many of them are hollowed out like a "bowl" which is awesome for caves.

And no Gary, I'm not dremelling the rock. 



2wheelsx2 said:


> Great pricing too. And easy to shape, as I was hinting to Tony.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

I would suggest not such a rough rock for your africans. Your Trophs are going to be chasing each other like crazy and scractch themselves. I just replaced all my rock with Petrified wood and it looks great. Not cheap but certainly is beautiful.


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

thanks for all, and our forum is a such helpful place.
and i will try find some rock which are not from metalliferous belts.
and my friend put some Red Lava Rock in his tropheus tank, and it looks great, and he told me there is no problem and the water is much more clear than before.

here is his tank.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It's because the basalt is very porous which creates alarge bio bed. That's the reason why it's often used for bio media in smaller sizes.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Those Cichlids look pretty wicked with that rock! Thats nicely done.


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> It's because the basalt is very porous which creates alarge bio bed. That's the reason why it's often used for bio media in smaller sizes.


yea, so do you recommend it, if i found some rock which are not from metalliferous belts. thanks


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

I just check the both place, and they only have very small size, do anyone know where I can get some bigger


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Maybe you can glue the rocks together? Or the mexican bowl rock does look like a good alternate since it comes in big chunks.
How do you tell if the lava rocks are from metalliferous belts or not?


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

PSpades said:


> Maybe you can glue the rocks together? Or the mexican bowl rock does look like a good alternate since it comes in big chunks.
> How do you tell if the lava rocks are from metalliferous belts or not?


actually, i donot i just ask the stuff.


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## sniper (Oct 23, 2010)

i have a lot that you can get for free


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Where did you go? I bought mine from Northwest Landscape on Byrne Rd this weekend. And the majority of their pieces were huge. The bin was right next to the scale.


EVANDU said:


> I just check the both place, and they only have very small size, do anyone know where I can get some bigger


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

EVANDU said:


> yea, so do you recommend it, if i found some rock which are not from metalliferous belts. thanks


Most of the stuff in landscaping places will not have metals in it. If you go and collect rocks yourself, there are copper/iron sulphide bearing rocks along the Sea to Sky (such as the Britannia Mine) Hwy as that's a known mineralized district.



PSpades said:


> How do you tell if the lava rocks are from metalliferous belts or not?


 Ask a lapidary/geologist, or a prospector.



tony1928 said:


> Where did you go? I bought mine from Northwest Landscape on Byrne Rd this weekend. And the majority of their pieces were huge. The bin was right next to the scale.


 I assume he was looking for basalt, which they only have in the smaller sizes.


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## chilliwackdave (Jan 10, 2011)

There is a source for tuffa out here in Chilliwack. They are 8 to 14 inch pieces at 22 cents per pound. I am currently using it with crushed coral and getting medium hard water with 8.2 ph. It is available at the "Green Depot" on Parr road off of Yale road just North of the highway. I also have five extra pieces here I will not be using that have been pressure washed and baked in the oven for several hours.


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> Where did you go? I bought mine from Northwest Landscape on Byrne Rd this weekend. And the majority of their pieces were huge. The bin was right next to the scale.


thanks tony, i went to the same store, and mexican bowl rock is huge but the red lava rock is quite small.


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

chilliwackdave said:


> There is a source for tuffa out here in Chilliwack. They are 8 to 14 inch pieces at 22 cents per pound. I am currently using it with crushed coral and getting medium hard water with 8.2 ph. It is available at the "Green Depot" on Parr road off of Yale road just North of the highway. I also have five extra pieces here I will not be using that have been pressure washed and baked in the oven for several hours.


well, i really want to go check it, but too far away, thanks a lot


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Vman said:


> I would suggest not such a rough rock for your africans. Your Trophs are going to be chasing each other like crazy and scractch themselves. I just replaced all my rock with Petrified wood and it looks great. Not cheap but certainly is beautiful.


My thoughts exactly Vman. There will definately be damage from the rock, may end up being infected. I have a Mbuna tank with lava and a peice of volcanic and want to get rid of the rock.


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

If you want pelelith I know where to find it... For free. It's only a 14.5 km hike in with about 4000 feet elevation gain. Pick your size and even color somewhat. And then carry it back out... Dont worry, its all downhill on your way out  but seeing as you wont drive to chilliwack im guessing a 29km day hike is out of the question lol

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Foxtail said:


> If you want pelelith I know where to find it... For free. It's only a 14.5 km hike in with about 4000 feet elevation gain. Pick your size and even color somewhat. And then carry it back out... Dont worry, its all downhill on your way out  but seeing as you wont drive to chilliwack im guessing a 29km day hike is out of the question lol
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk


No need to drive to Chilliwack. There is plenty of basalt all over the western Cordillera. That's why this is the Pacific Rim of Fire.


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## AquaAddict (Dec 4, 2010)

*BC Driftwood*

Hi,

You could try BC driftwood from FXBillie. He sometimes advertises on this forum. I bought a stunning piece from him for $35.00. It filled my 90 gallon tall tank.

You also could try King Ed Pets for various rocks. I set up a beautiful Aftrican tank some years ago with all rock from King Ed.

AquaAddict


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

AquaAddict said:


> Hi,
> 
> You could try BC driftwood from FXBillie. He sometimes advertises on this forum. I bought a stunning piece from him for $35.00. It filled my 90 gallon tall tank.
> 
> ...


thanks, i will check it.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

just my two cents but i have used Lava rocks in my tanks for the last 12 years and not had any issues


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## EVANDU (Dec 30, 2010)

roshan said:


> just my two cents but i have used Lava rocks in my tanks for the last 12 years and not had any issues


yea, i just thought the tropheus moves so fast and they may get hurt by the Lava rocks


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## laura87 (Mar 12, 2012)

Still looking for some? I've got a few huge pieces that I'm willing to part with for $10.
Send me a private message if you're interested.


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