[kmurphy]

I just thought it would be interesting to get others take on the rocks I have collected to possibly go into my new aquascape. They will be going into a 72 gallon tank. Ecocomplete substate, with pressurized Co2.

Which set to you think has more potential, the slate pile on the left or the river rock on the right.

 

[turtlehead]

the river rocks, for a planted, slates for cichlids. Slates may work for a planted tank with wood work(branches).

 

[trenac]

I would go with the river rock, however the varying colors may not work well together. IMO, collecting river rocks with basically the same color would be better; exp: Black/gray, Browns.

 

[locus]

I would go with the river rock, however the varying colors may not work well together. IMO, collecting river rocks with basically the same color would be better; exp: Black/gray, Browns.

I second that.

 

[Jdinh04]

I wouldn't add any rocks, but that's just me ...

 

[Nick]

...and apart from aesthetics you might want to check whether there is much carbonate material in them or not. Water+CO2=carbonic acid, which may affect your hardness when it lowers pH and starts to dissolve any carbonate minerals present in your rocks, liberating Ca and Mg (which you may or may not want).

Nick

 

[pineapple]

The right hand pile of rocks are "orphans." Meaning they are derived from different locations. If you wanted a sense of natural continuity in your aquascape, you would not want orphans.

The left hand rocks are not slates. Slates have a fine cleavage - the bedding planes or possibly cleavage shown in the rocks photographed is too coarse to classify them as slates. It might be worth testing them for carbonate content. Most likely they are sedimentary rocks, fine grained, slightly arenaceous (sandy grained). They are useful for layering, creating terraces, holding back substrate in mounds, placing Anubias and ferns on, and place holding (covering substrate until needed for planting at which time they can be removed).

Andrew Cribb

 

[kmurphy]

Thanks for all the input.

I think I will go with the ones on the right. Interesting that Andrew noticed they were not all from the same location. The pile on the right was collected from two different bodies of water. The darker ones from the Cowlitz River and the redish/light brown ones from a small tributary of the Cowlitz.

My plan is to go back to the tributary and collect more of the redish/light brown ones for the tank.