This shouldn't be so difficult (aquarium)

[Rajah]

Our tank is *finally* ready chemistry-wise to put fish in. We went the fishless cycling route, put too much ammonia in to start out with (unknowingly), and ended up with an ammonia spike that lasted a week and a nitrite spike that lasted nearly 3 weeks. But it has *finally* broken.

Now we want to put decorations in the tank (we've been discussing ideas for the past 3 weeks) and what I really would like to get ahold of to put in there is *black* lava. That bubbly-type like what you find lying around in Hawaii. (No, DH's trip had *no* influence on this tank.... riiiiiiIIiight. )

I've called every aquarium shop I can find nearby. Nothing. They all have red lava, but no black lava. I've been to two garden centers and called a couple more. The only black lava we've found is the stuff that's in at most two-inch sizes. Most are 1-inch or so. I want pieces that are in the 4-6 inch sizes.

One pet store said they could order some for me. To the tune of $12-$15 per rock. A bag of the same type of lava I want just the smaller pieces is only $3.25, and there's more than enough in there to *make* 3 or 4 or even 10 maybe larger sized chunks if I glue them together.

Who would'a thunk it'd be so hard to find *black* lacy/feathery lava??

We're debating... call my grandparents, who live in New Mexico and can practically walk out their back door and get some and ask them to ship a box of rock, or buy one bag of the smaller chunks and glue them together.

 

[peg2001]

I'm not familiar with black lava rock but be wary if it is rough in texture like the red lava rock. We had red lava rock in our aquarium for less than 24 hours and then had to remove it because the fish were rubbing up against it and scraping scales off.

Goodluck!
Peggy

 

[Rajah]

What type of fish did you have?

I at *least* want something dark / black in that tank, and the lava rock would look so neat if we could get it to work right.

 

[janette]

Have you tried some of the aquarium boards? They should be able to give some tips or let you know what would work.

 

[peg2001]

Well, it was the goldfish that were scraping scales off on the lava rock. They love to rub and bump against anything in the tank.

I have a second tank of harlequin rasboras and cory cats and oto's and a bushy nosed pleco, and a small third tank with just a betta.

Peggy

 

[Rajah]

Nope Janette -- the two main boards I've found are UK boards. Apparently, it's more "in" to talk about aquariums in the UK than it is in the US. *shrug*

Cool Peggy -- we currently have 2 betta (1 at work, 1 at home) and our empty 29 gallon tank. (Well, it has one amazon sword plant and some snails that came with the plant, but I don't think those count. LOL! ) We're looking at getting some danios (dunno yet whether they'll be zebra, blue longfin, or both), neon tetra, scissortail rasboras, a few corys, and maybe another different type of algae eater/cat. Dunno what else we're going to put in there -- we keep changing our minds. LOL!

 

[janette]

Try this one, http://www.advancedaquarist.com/ I know my brother has done an article for the magazine before and they have forums. His tank is salt water so don't know if it would be just that but might help. If this doesn't work let me know and I can ask him if he knows of some other forums that might be helpful. I know he has talked about participating in some just not sure what they are.

 

[Rajah]

Thanks Janette. That's all marine tanks, though.

Ahh well. I'm about to give up on that search and will probly change my plan, but I dunno. Gonna go check out my favorite aquarium shop.

 

[Ted and Holly]

There are TONS of US aquarium boards. Many do specialize, but most will address almost all aspects of the hobby.

Some freshwater, general boards:
http://www.aquariacentral.com
http://www.tomgriffin.com/ (Tom has become somewhat of a legend)
http://www.aqualink.com/ (Many PHds and Fish magazine editors frequent here)
http://www.desertaquaria.com (Named for location, not specilization)
http://www.aquahobby.com/main.html

I have never seen black lava rock. I have seen the red stuff, and some tan and dark brown stuff that is shaped the same. You might want to "glue" some together with 100% silicone.

Ted

 

[LarryE]

dang thats a long time to wait to put fish in.. I've already put fish in right after putting the water and start right in and have never lost any fish because of amonia or nitrogen.

 

[peg2001]

My favorite website for aquarium information and message boards is:

http://forumsa.compuserve.com/gvforums/default.asp?SRV=Fishnet

If the link doesn't work, just type compuserve fishnet into google.

Peggy

 

[Ted and Holly]

Originally posted by LarryE
dang thats a long time to wait to put fish in.. I've already put fish in right after putting the water and start right in and have never lost any fish because of amonia or nitrogen.

Actually, Rajah took a very good approach. The "fishless" method is quite progressive, but gaining ground in the aquarium hobby.

Sure, you can establish the nitrogen cycle with fish living in the tank. Maybe they survive. The problem is that ammonia and nitrite are quite toxic. Long term health is severely affected due to burning of the gills.

I have heard of the Fishnet forum, but I have never read it. It is featured (sort of) in one of the aquarium magazines...

Ted

 

[Rajah]

Ran by the closest fish store last night (besides Petco/Petsmart, though I visited 'Smart, too) and found that while the guy on the phone was right they didn't have any black "lava rock", they *did* have some nice obsidian chunks in the size I wanted and fairly inexpensive. So I picked up the two they had (a whole $2) as well as some black pebbles and tested those in the tank. I think I'm going to go with obsidian instead of "lace/feather lava" since it's much gentler on the fish and still has very close to the look I was going for.

So now I'm on the hunt for obsidian.