How do I prepare lava rock to add to tank?

[Super Jess]

Hi folks,

I moved to southern California last fall from the east coast, and was surprised to discover a location where I picked up natural black lava rocks just lying around. I would like to clean them and add them to a tank, but how do I make them safe for supershrimp? I was thinking I would wash and soak them in distilled water, then maybe pop them in a hot oven for a while to kill anything that might be hiding inside the holes. Any tips? I was also thinking I might glue them together in some kind of formation with Gorilla Glue, as another poster mentioned is safe to do.

The lava rocks I picked up have a different structure from the ones I purchased from my LFS -- they are harder, have hard angles, and do not have the "crumbly" structure of my purchased ones. Think they're safe to use?

[jcfrank922]

I would submerge them in boiling distilled water for 20 minutes and then soak them in clean distilled water for 60 minutes.

[Stalker]

Post a photo

[Super Jess]

Thanks for the boiling suggestion! I'll give that a try and see how it goes. The rocks are smooth and have lots of small bubble holes in them, so maybe boiling will help get the sand out of all the holes.

Maybe the rocks are basalt? Pics!

[AnotherKevin]

Boiling or baking rocks is dangerous, because on rare occassions, heated rocks can explode. It's unlikely, but if it happens it can ruin your kitchen or even kill you. I would never ever do it.

Since your rocks are from land, they're unlikely to have any life forms which can harm your shrimp. The main threat is probably pollutants, pesticides, etc. Or metals in the rock itself, but I don't know how to check for that.

I just washed mine by hand, then soaked them for a while in distilled water.

[Stalker]

I dont think its lava, more like slag but i'm not sure.

[Corucia]

If it's slag, I'd think it would be quite deleterious to put into a tank given the various metal oxides and other elements that would likely leach into the water over time.

[JennyPenny]

Yes, boiling rocks can explode. Usually they don't (I did for years until I leaned about this) but I don't think it's worth the risk. Cleaning thoroughly and leaving to dry in the sun should be good. I have a scrub brush that is just for this purpose.

[jcfrank922]

I boiled my lava rock without any problems, but I guess it is possible it could explode. Another possibility could be to wash the rocks, then place them in a ziplock bag and freeze them for a couple of days. Freezing them would kill any germs or bacteria.

[Super Jess]

Thanks for everyone's help! I did successfully boil my rocks, and happily none exploded. I glued a few together, and they're now soaking in the new tank with some of the offspring from my original Mustafa snails (which have exploded in number)

I dont think its lava, more like slag but i'm not sure.

I think they are lava rocks because the place I found them turned out to be some lava flows on I-40 near the Pisgah Crater and the Lavic Lake area, which I had never heard of, but I Googled as we drove We had been seeing these fields of black stuff that looked like burned ground, but somehow lava wasn't the first thing that came to mind! Shows you what an east-coaster I am

Edited to add a pic of the lava flow field. So neat!

[Stalker]

Ho indded

[Mustafa]

In most cases just soaking in tap water for a day or two and then leaving it outside to dry will do the trick.