First let me say this:
I have no problem with bare tanks. I currently have three of them.
Ok, now to my point. Lava rock. Pumice, kind of. You need to get into it. Hold it in your hands. take it to a movie. talk dirty to it. This stuff is gold.
What is it? Well lets dive into the subject shall we...
So know we know what it is, what to do with it?
What have you got?
You have the closest thing to a freshwater reef you are going to have. You also have a titanic in-tank bio-filter with respect to the porous rock.
Hey, we all like having tons of free swimming space for our fish, but in this instance, its all about the vertical wall, baby! Sitting in front of a tall tank that is STACKED with lava rock from front to back and top to bottom really pleases the eye.
If you haven't had a set up like this, you are missing out.
Besides, how darn cool is it to have a rock wall in your tank that was literally blown out of a volcano, cooling as it flew through the air?
I have no problem with bare tanks. I currently have three of them.
Ok, now to my point. Lava rock. Pumice, kind of. You need to get into it. Hold it in your hands. take it to a movie. talk dirty to it. This stuff is gold.
What is it? Well lets dive into the subject shall we...
Pumice (
/ˈpə.məs/) is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid cooling and rapid depressurization. The depressurization creates bubbles by lowering the solubility of gases (including water and CO2) dissolved in the lava, causing the gases to rapidly exsolve (like the bubbles of CO2 that appear when a carbonated drink is opened). The simultaneous cooling then freezes the bubbles in the matrix.
Pumice is composed of highly microvesicular glass pyroclastic with very thin, translucent bubble walls of extrusive igneous rock. It is commonly, but not exclusively of silicic or felsic to intermediate in composition (e.g., rhyolitic, dacitic, andesite, pantellerite, phonolite, trachyte), but basaltic and other compositions are known. Pumice is commonly pale in color, ranging from white, cream, blue or grey, to green-brown or black. It forms when volcanic gases exsolving from viscous magma nucleate bubbles which cannot readily decouple from the viscous magma prior to chilling to glass. Pumice is a common product of explosive eruptions (plinian and ignimbrite-forming) and commonly forms zones in upper parts of silicic lavas. Pumice has an average porosity of 90%, and initially floats on water.
However, for the sake of my argument, what I am really talking about here is Scoria. What makes Scoria different from pumice?
Pumice is composed of highly microvesicular glass pyroclastic with very thin, translucent bubble walls of extrusive igneous rock. It is commonly, but not exclusively of silicic or felsic to intermediate in composition (e.g., rhyolitic, dacitic, andesite, pantellerite, phonolite, trachyte), but basaltic and other compositions are known. Pumice is commonly pale in color, ranging from white, cream, blue or grey, to green-brown or black. It forms when volcanic gases exsolving from viscous magma nucleate bubbles which cannot readily decouple from the viscous magma prior to chilling to glass. Pumice is a common product of explosive eruptions (plinian and ignimbrite-forming) and commonly forms zones in upper parts of silicic lavas. Pumice has an average porosity of 90%, and initially floats on water.
Scoria is a volcanic rock containing many holes or vesicles. It is most generally dark in color (generally dark brown, black or red), and basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is relatively low in mass as a result of its numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but in contrast to pumice, all scoria has a specific gravity greater than 1, and sinks in water. The holes or vesicules form when gases that were dissolved in the magma come out of solution as it erupts, creating bubbles in the molten rock, some of which are frozen in place as the rock chills and solidifies. Scoria may form as part of a lava flow, typically near its surface, or as fragmental ejecta (lapilli, blocks and bombs), for instance in Strombolian eruptions that form steep-sided scoria cones. Most scoria is composed of glassy fragments, and may contain phenocrysts. The word scoria comes from the Greek σκωρία, skōria, rust. An old name for scoria is cinder.
Scoria differs from pumice, another vesicular volcanic rock, in having larger vesicles and thicker vesicle walls, and hence is denser. The difference is probably the result of lower magma viscosity, allowing rapid volatile diffusion, bubble growth, coalescence, and bursting.
Key:
Scoria has several useful characteristics that influence how it is used. It is somewhat porous, has high surface area and strength for its weight, and often has striking colours. Scoria is often used in landscaping and drainage works.
Scoria differs from pumice, another vesicular volcanic rock, in having larger vesicles and thicker vesicle walls, and hence is denser. The difference is probably the result of lower magma viscosity, allowing rapid volatile diffusion, bubble growth, coalescence, and bursting.
Key:
Scoria has several useful characteristics that influence how it is used. It is somewhat porous, has high surface area and strength for its weight, and often has striking colours. Scoria is often used in landscaping and drainage works.
So know we know what it is, what to do with it?
- Get your self a large as you can, tall as you can, not necessarily wide tank.
- Use a white sand substrate.
- Pile lava rock along the back wall of the tank all the way up to the surface of the water. Pile it thick, in some spots even slightly touching the front glass. BE CAREFUL here to make sure your wall is secure and built properly, as some of this stuff can float initially, and even though it isn't necessarily dense, some pieces can be heavy and break your tank if you are not careful! You can buy it at home improvement shops and landscaping shops. It comes in all kinds of cool reds and blacks and grays and browns. mix and match heaven!! Oh, and use a bunch of different sizes, and smash pieces with a hammer, that's great fun too!
- Use lots of filtration with good flow.
- Plant Java Fern at strategic locations in the rock wall.
- Stock the tank with, now this is important, cylindrical shaped African cichlids, loaches and perhaps a single freshwater albino/redtail/ruby shark.
- Add one smallish, non-cylindrical, yet still rock loving African cichlid, like a yellow lab.
- Heat and light it appropriately.
What have you got?
You have the closest thing to a freshwater reef you are going to have. You also have a titanic in-tank bio-filter with respect to the porous rock.
Hey, we all like having tons of free swimming space for our fish, but in this instance, its all about the vertical wall, baby! Sitting in front of a tall tank that is STACKED with lava rock from front to back and top to bottom really pleases the eye.
If you haven't had a set up like this, you are missing out.
Besides, how darn cool is it to have a rock wall in your tank that was literally blown out of a volcano, cooling as it flew through the air?
