Limestone or lava rock in a SW tank?

My LFS said they were ok. They are dry. The lava rock have some moss/lichens on it. I bought it because they are very flat pieces I want for shelves.

They had some Texas bubble rock??? Baiscally limestone that has been weathered by water. Another nice piecs, but at $2/lb it came to $40 bucks. They did say it would raise PH a bit.

Just want to make sure they will not cause problems. I'll wash and scrub them.

 

I *think* the limestone might be OK, but I am not sure.
I am sure that lava rock is NOT ok to use in sw. It will leach all kinds of heavey metals (mainly iron) and other toxins into the water.

 

That is not good. I didn't think of that. It isn't the puffy porous stuff. It's more solid. Darn it. Perfect for what I was looking for.

Anyone else know more.

 

For $2 a pound why not just get some good base rock and be positive its safe?

 

The only thing I would use for SW is old rock that came out of SW. Texas bubble rock and texas holy rock will never become live rock....reefcleaners has good rock....50 lbs for 135.00 it will be live rock soon

 

I'm looking at redoing my tank in the near future. I wanted shelves. These are perfect for what I wanted.

I have 150lb of live rock in my tank now.

 

Holy Rock. That's it.

Like I said, I have 150 lbs of Fiji LR now. I want to remove some and add a few other pieces. The piece they had at the store was sort of flat and squarish. Thought it would be nice transition leaned up against my overflow box. Don't know if I like it $40 worth.

 

I approve this message ;D

side note, my dad uses lava rock all around our plants and every time it rains the rock stains the mat underneath to keep the weeds out, I would personally not use it. One of the LFS here uses it and they constantly have algae blooms and there tank's are really not that appealing to the eye.

 

Here's a pic of my Texas Holy Rock becoming 'live'. Stuff use to be real white and now it's mostly covered in grey and purple coraline. Noticed a bristle worm burrowing out of one last week too.



Closer up pic of one of the holy rocks. You can see growth (other than the GSP) on it.

 

to comment on the holey rock issue, do the bacteria actually live on certain types of surfaces?? i know algae don't give a darn where it grows but i didn't think the bacteria would be selective in where they live...?