Can I put stones from the beach in my fish tank?

[Elyssia]

When I move into my new house I am going to start keeping a fish tank. I have some nice round smooth stones which I have collected off the beach, and one piece of green glass which is totally worn down and smooth too. Will it be safe to put these in with goldfish and how should I clean and prepare them first? Thanks

[success_marker]

It will be fine. Even though they came from saltwater, and it is highly unlikely that they carry anything that could infect your freshwater tank- you may want to boil them just to have peace of mind.

[Tink]

You want to make sure that the stones will not change the pH of the water....

get your test kit, test the pH of your water before adding the stones

Take a few of the stones, put them in that water, let them sit covered (so the water doesnt evaporate) for a week or two...

Test the water again - if the pH hasn't changed, then they are ok.
If its changed, they might have limestone in them, or something else that is going to make the pH of the tank unstable.

Which is a nightmare....


Boil the stones for few minutes like everyone else says....

[Alyssia]

Yes you can put them in with the fish tank. You should just put the rocks and peice of sea glass in really hot water so it kills all of the germs that were on the rocks.

[ryan c]

place them in large pot and boil them for a bit......works great
then its all fine