# Rock rust?



## -MC- (Oct 30, 2008)

Hi I picked up a few sweet rocks at my local rock farm yesterday had muriatic acid with me tested them and were okey except for the little rust on them that fizzed it scrubs off kinda hard but are they okay if I get the rust off??.....btw im soaking them in a bleach bath right now so I hope it works to get the little rust off.


----------



## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

A little rust is probably not a problem. 
Is the rust in the rock itself? A mineral deposit? 
Or was there something made of iron sitting on the rock, and there is a rust stain on the outside of the rock? 

Either way is probably not an issue for the aquarium, but: If the rock was supporting something mechanical, might there be other things you do not want on the rock? Petroleum? Pesticide? Other? You can probably clean the rock really well and get rid of these things, but I know how stubborn rust can be. You might get rid of everything else, and still have a rust stain!

Minerals from inside the rock will not stop, you cannot wash them away with any sort of cleanser. But a few small spots of iron in a large tank is not a problem. Larger amounts in a smaller tank might be a problem. I do not know where to draw the line. I have a couple of square inches of rust showing on a few rocks in my 125 gallon and there are no issues. I dose iron fertilizer into this tank the same as all the others.


----------

