# Limestone ok for planted tank?



## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

So, I went to a landscape/gardening store today and the only smaller stones they had were limestone. 
I understand that limestone changes pH of the water so I want to know if it will be ok in a planted aquarium with rainbows, tetras, cherry barbs, mollies, and an angelfish. I also have some SAEs and one small bushy nose pleco. 
If I can't, it wont really matter much. It was 1.64 for 12 pounds haha.


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

I personally find that plants in general like more neutral acidic waters then hard water. They just grow nicer when it's closes to 7ph


----------



## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

ugh so i guess i'm going to HAVE to get stones from an LFS. God, why are rocks so darn expensive. They are literally everywhere.


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

it's not that plants won't work in higher PH, it's just more work that can be avoided. You can grow most of the hardy plants like anubias, swords, vals, java fern etc.. but they will take time to adjust to the high ph and will most likely melt back before there is new growth, however if you decide to go for harder more demanding plants in the future with your high ph. There is no guarantee that the plants will acclimate properly and most likely will just melt die and not come back.


----------



## Tahuboy (Sep 20, 2013)

Kimchi24 said:


> ugh so i guess i'm going to HAVE to get stones from an LFS. God, why are rocks so darn expensive. They are literally everywhere.


I feel ya man if you aren't looking for some special lava rocks or anything try going for some hikes near a river or lake you would be suprised at the diversity of rocks you may find in your local area. I just picked up a nice piece of slate and another sedimentary rock from the badlands in brampton really cool formations. I plan on taking some more fall hikes grab some more rocks and maybe some leaves that i hear are good for shrimp food etc.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Check out this thread:

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21742

The #2 bottle for the API Nitrate test is an acid and can be used to test if a rock is calcium based.

Unfortunately, if you want the Amano looking rocks, you'll probably have to go to the LFS. I've had little luck in finding such (inert) rocks in GTA.


----------



## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

solarz said:


> Check out this thread:
> 
> http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21742
> 
> ...


Oh, no need for that lol. I KNOW lime stone is calcium based haha. just wanted to know if it'll hurt my tank. I'm probably just going to dish out the money for it.


----------

