more lava rock questions

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señor_pescados_felices

señor_pescados_felices

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May 26, 2006
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The Real Norcal
I have a wall of different sized lava rocks and driftwood stacked roughly 15" tall along the back of my malawi tank....I would say maybe 75 LBS worth but thats just a guess.

I like the look (have every color lava rock I could find,mostly natural tones of greys browns and blacks but also some red) but also I was thinking lava rock held certain biological filtration capabilities.

I have the intakes to my filters (aquaclear 70 and emperor 400) buried down beneath the wall about half way,so that the water is drawn through the lava rocks and up into the filter.

the lava rock started turning colors after a few months,turning brown in some places that I cant wipe off (I dont really want to I just tried to see if it was algae or some sort of growth but its not).It started to look kinda like the LR I see in reef tanks sometimes,I would try to take pictures but after how the pics of my pike turned out I dont think it would be of any use.

I dont have any plants in that tank but its much clearer than my other tanks,and the ammonia/nitrites are almost alway zero or very close,with nitrates being removed by regular water changes.

so theres the info and my question is: Is having that lava rock in my tank (also how much I have,and how I have it set up) really doing anything for filtration or am I just fooling myself?I was thinking it was getting brown as it got "cultured" with bacteria colonies,no?I kinda imagined it working for my tank similar to how LR works in a SW tank (which I admit to only having a basic understanding of).

sorry if this is hard to follow I tend to ramble I honestly cant help it.
 
I was thinking the exact same thing. It could be possible for anaerobic bacteria to live inside the rocks just like live rock and break down nitrate. It would be nice if our freshwater tanks could have the same bacterial help as saltwater. I would love to do some lava rock in my brackish tank if I can get my hands on some.

Radley
 
Seeing how porous lava rock is, I'm sure it will help in the colonization of nitrifiing bacteria. I also have a pile of lava rock, probably 30+ lbs. Can't really see it though, in the forest of plants that I have. But I'm pretty sure that's where my BGK resides.

I'm unsure about the discoloring of the rock. If you have a small piece of it, you could dip it in bleach, and see if the dark areas turn white (possible algae growth). You should try to get a full tank pic, I'm curious to see the rock-design.
 
I think I am going to get some Lava rock for my tank. It will look pretty nice when I am done, because plastic plants just look like crap. I want some caves, and I have some now but they are just plexi and rocks would be so much cooler. Also, I can hide all of my filter stuff that way.
 
maybe someone can help me, im cleaning my new lava rocks now how long before the bacteria start to build colonies in them???

PM me answer please
 
señor_pescados_felices;513744; said:
I have a wall of different sized lava rocks and driftwood stacked roughly 15" tall along the back of my malawi tank....I would say maybe 75 LBS worth but thats just a guess.

I like the look (have every color lava rock I could find,mostly natural tones of greys browns and blacks but also some red) but also I was thinking lava rock held certain biological filtration capabilities.

I have the intakes to my filters (aquaclear 70 and emperor 400) buried down beneath the wall about half way,so that the water is drawn through the lava rocks and up into the filter.

the lava rock started turning colors after a few months,turning brown in some places that I cant wipe off (I dont really want to I just tried to see if it was algae or some sort of growth but its not).It started to look kinda like the LR I see in reef tanks sometimes,I would try to take pictures but after how the pics of my pike turned out I dont think it would be of any use.

I dont have any plants in that tank but its much clearer than my other tanks,and the ammonia/nitrites are almost alway zero or very close,with nitrates being removed by regular water changes.

so theres the info and my question is: Is having that lava rock in my tank (also how much I have,and how I have it set up) really doing anything for filtration or am I just fooling myself?I was thinking it was getting brown as it got "cultured" with bacteria colonies,no?I kinda imagined it working for my tank similar to how LR works in a SW tank (which I admit to only having a basic understanding of).

sorry if this is hard to follow I tend to ramble I honestly cant help it.
Click to expand...



Sounds like it could just be a build-up of extraneous (euw) matter with the filter inlets sucking everything pasted it.

As far as bacteria build-up in the lava rock, I think it's going to be more aerobic bacteria because of all the water movement which is not a bad thing.

I think it would be best if building one like this to have the return pointed at the rock to get better bacteria growth.

Dr Joe

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