# ROCKS and BORED AT WORK



## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

I had alot of down time at work tonight so I was looking at AMANO's videos on YOUTUBE.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE the hardscapes in many of his tank, they are just so breathtaking. The variety of rocks he uses in his tanks are unbelievable!!!

For the life of me I can believe that Japan is the only place that has these beauties. The USA is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than Japan and we do have mountains and volcanoes and a much diversified geography then they do.

The question / idea I am proposing is to

1 - Have all of us take pictures of "AQUARIUM SAFE" rocks and stones that are inidiginous to your area.

2 - List places that you know of that have different kind of stones, ie; quarries, lanscape stores etc with names of the rocks along with pics.

This may sound like a dumb idea, but like I said we have such a diverse country here and there has to be more than shale, river rocks and round lava chunks.

This is ONE of the videos that got me thinking...

An aquascape with Unzan stone and Wabi-kusa






Let me know what you guys think?


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## Nachos (Jan 6, 2012)

Down in south Louisiana we have no local rocks to pick from which sucks so i can't get ya any pictures. So I guess we have to 'import' our stones and speaking of importing, after watching that video, I need to 'import' some of those Japanese fellas so they can hand me trays of live plants and mist them for me too, haha!


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## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

I am definately with you on that one. MUST be so nice to just have EVERYTHING at your disposal like that!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

In CT there are a lot of basalt rocks, and along the coast quite a lot of granite. Those compose the main two types of rock I have seen in CT, though occasionally you can find sandstone, shale and even marble.


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

The unfortunate thing about the ADA stones is that they have fancy names or are identified by the region they came from - they offer us very few clues as to their composition or what their geological origins may be, thus it's hard to seek out localities with similar minerals.

On the other hand, the rocks in that particular video show some evidence of having been shaped/worked with tools - my guess is they did a little fiddling to make the cavities more uniform & pronounced. Considering the meticulousness of the whole setup process, it would not surprise me if each rock was individually carved to Amano's specifications. If I had to guess, the source rock for that scape is probably some form of basaltic lava rock similar to the stuff you can find on Hawai'i and in the western U.S., wherever there's a history of volcanic activity. Some creative gouging and artificial wear later, and voila...



Nachos said:


> I need to 'import' some of those Japanese fellas so they can hand me trays of live plants and mist them for me too, haha!


I second this. Where's my fishroom staff when I need someone to lay out trays of carefully-arranged little round plant plugs for me to plop into gratuitously large rimless tanks. For that matter, where are my gratuitously large rimless tanks at all?


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## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

Yes I think it is a type of basaltic lava as well. I did a search for companies that sell them and one will be sending me pics tomorrow of dimensions and type that I am looking for. Heres hoping. Will post the pics once I get them.

Zappins, I love the way the formation looks and would love to emulate that in a tank. the one right above your tank. NICE!!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yes the cliff face in that picture was quite appealing. Particularly because the rocks in that area were lighter colored and rather crumbly compared with the other rocks in the same formation. I added some to my tank in the last picture there. They tend to get darker the longer you have them underwater, but they can be brushed clean with a wire tooth brush.


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## lilobee (Mar 28, 2012)

I'm having a hard time finding the right rock for scaping as well.


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