Habitat - Indoor :: River rocks Ok for turtle tank?

[taylormaid]

A few years ago I bought a bunch of river rocks. They are fairly large ~ I don't know exactly how big, but I can hold about 5 or maybe 6 in the palm of my hand. These are the rocks you see in craft stores all of the time. They are different shades of brown & polished very smooth. Real rocks, not the decorative glass.

Anyhow, this may be a dumb question but is it Ok to add them to the turtle tank? Has anyone ever heard of toxic materials being used on these rocks?

The container simply states, "River rocks, 5lbs."

*By the way, I know all of the cons for having rocks ~ but these are too big for my turtles to eat & I don't plan on covering the entire bottom of the tank. Just want to add a few Thanks

[FLhaven4strays]

I have some largish, smooth rocks dug from the yard in my son's map hatchling tank. I scrubbed them well (no soap - just a tiny bit of diluted bleach), rinsed them, let them dry for a day or 2 & put them in. I think most folks on here have some kind of decorative rocks in their tanks.

The biggest issue is keeping the bottom clean around the rocks. Old food & waste get caught up around the rock & builds up if you don't get it well. I make it a point to move the rocks daily when we use the tube to suction up the bottom of the tank. If you're willing to clean them well before hand (& around them later!) I see no reason why you shouldn't use them.

[taylormaid]

Yeah, I am assuming they are Ok, but wanted to double check. Thanks for the reply =)

[marisa]

I've bought river rocks in a craft store (Michaels) and some bags do say on the label that they're not for aquarium use. Others say they can be used in aquariums. They look pretty much the same, so I don't know what the difference is. As a precaution, I've just bought the ones that said they were aquarium safe. If the ones you bought didn't say they couldn't be used in aquariums, I would think, with a good cleaning, that they'd be OK.

[jasmiester]

Rocks are nice decoration, but make sure you get ones big enough that they can't be moved around easily, i've head from people that they can damage your tank since its made of glass and too much bumping and impact with the rocks can weaken the bottom of your tank.