6 comments to “Can i use live rock in a freshwater aquarium?”

1. Pet Service wrote:
   31. May 2008 at 4:02 pm :

   you have to clean it, though. You cannot put a live rock, a live DIRTY rock, in a freshwater aquarium. Wash the sand, like, soak it, in hot water.

   Good luck!

2. Rick wrote:
   1. June 2008 at 11:00 pm :

   If your going to use the sand you will have to throughly wash it to get all traces of salt out. The live rock will not be able to be reused sadly. If you use the live rock it will still spit out bits of saltwater and will eventually die taking all your fish with it. If your going to use the sand I sugest 1-2 dwarf puffers. They are very smart and cute as well.

   EDIT: African cichlids get big so I don’t advise and if you boil a LIVE rock chances are it will die.

3. ladiebug98 wrote:
   4. June 2008 at 5:21 pm :

   Um… If You decide to put the rock in a freshwater aquarium, You will need to boil it to get the salt out. I wouldn’t use the sand . I would buy new substrate. You can buy sand for a freshwater aquarium. After You boil your live rock, rinse it off very very well. And as for what type of fish, that really depends on You! I love my african cichlids, but they are not for everyone. Do some research and figure out what type of fish are for You! Good Luck!

4. bringer_of_the_tides wrote:
   4. June 2008 at 5:49 pm :

   To save yourself the pain, throw the sand away and get some larger gravel. You can use the rock after soaking it in boiling water to rid it from the dirt and whatever’s on it, you don’t want your water to cloud because of it.
   As for fish, in the 20 gallons you can put a nice school of tiger barbs (interesting schooling movement, they move all together) or other small fish like tetras and dwarf gouramis (those look amazing). Wouldn’t recommend something that would grow big or that would need a lot of swimming space unless you’re planning to upgrade in the near future.

   Good luck!

5. ajester27 wrote:
   7. June 2008 at 8:02 pm :

   Don’t use either. Even if you clean all the salt off of it etc… it will still end up driving your ph up and killing your freshwater fish. Just start new and do it right.

6. copperhead wrote:
   8. June 2008 at 11:16 am :

   Some things you should think about before doing this.

   The major item is that the live rock and sand are made of calcium-magnesium carbonate which will slowly dissolve in the lower pH of a freshwater tank. This will slowly increase the water hardness and pH of your freshwater tank. If you plan to keep fish such as cichlids or livebearers, that wouldn’t be a problem, but many other species prefer neutral to slightly acidic soft water. So be aware of how the rock and sand will affect your water chemistry and the preferences for the fish you get. If you’re not planning for cichlids, livebearers, or other hard, alkaline water, these may not be the best choice to use.

   The other is the salt and organisms which formerly grew on the rock. The salt is water soluble, and will rinse off with a few soakings and water changes. Any organisms (coralline algae, sponges, worms within the rock) will have died when the rock and sand was removed from the water, and when you add these to water again, they’ll decompose, releasing ammonia. If you plan to use these again, you should add them to the tank and do a fishless cycle (http://malawicichlids.com/mw01017.htm ) with the sand and rock in the tank, so any decomposition happens before you add the fish. When you’re ready to add fish, do a very large water change (75-80%) to not only remove the nitrate which has formed, but to reduce the hardness and lower the pH which will have changed from when the cycling started.

   Also, you should do smaller, more frequent water changes when you have fish, so the pH and hardness won’t change as much with each water change.