# Lava rock substrate for shrimp?



## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Has anyone tried just using Lava rock as a substrate for shrimp?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I know a lot of people use that for Opae Ula and others use it for the matrix in UGF. So it should work fine, but would probably be inert in that it doesn't buffer the pH in the way akadama or FSS would.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Actually, inert is what I would want. 

I'm interested in breeding cherry vars. , and I'm thinking black lava rock would provide a lot of beneficial places for bacteria and biofilm in a 55 gallon tank. (?)


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Should work ok. I use pieces of it in my tanks as decoration or to attach moss too. My breeder box has a few seeded pieces in it right now for the babies that are hatching in there.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yeah if you have access to the lava rock cheap I see no reason not to!


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> Yeah if you have access to the lava rock cheap I see no reason not to!


I just grabbed a bag of bbq rock from home depot and smashed it with a hammer for a while to get some smaller pieces.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> I just grabbed a bag of bbq rock from home depot and smashed it with a hammer for a while to get some smaller pieces.


That's lava rock? Isn't that just like charcoal or something?


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> That's lava rock? Isn't that just like charcoal or something?


The stuff for gas bbq's is lava rock. Just sits in the bottom of the bbq to help retain and spread heat. Not the stuff you light on fire to cook with, that's just charcoal.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Lava rock is sold in 7lb bags for gas grills and such. I was going to do the same thing.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...ngId=-1&keyword=black lava rock&storeId=10051


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> The stuff for gas bbq's is lava rock. Just sits in the bottom of the bbq to help retain and spread heat. Not the stuff you light on fire to cook with, that's just charcoal.





Soothing Shrimp said:


> Lava rock is sold in 7lb bags for gas grills and such. I was going to do the same thing.


Ah alrighty. As you can tell I don't barbeque much (or at all). 



Soothing Shrimp said:


> LOL If we post at the same time is that good luck?


It just means the latter one has to go back and edit their post to say "ninjad" lol


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

I know it's light. Did you have a problem with the rock floating?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I'm pretty sure the lava rock will sink even though it's so porous. Or you wouldn't a matrix material that would float!


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Soothing Shrimp said:


> I know it's light. Did you have a problem with the rock floating?


Nope, sinks no problem for me. Also use it for bio filtration in canister filters that didn't come with biomedia. Works great there too.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I put mine in a bucket with my shower head and hot water for 20mins just to get rid of all the small pieces and sort of sterilize it. Plus after breaking it up, there is a lot of dust.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Do you ever vacuum it, or does the bacteria just make stuff "go away?"


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Getochkn do you have a picture of a tank where you use this broken up lava rock? Or you only use it as your substrate and have netlea on the top or something?


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> Getochkn do you have a picture of a tank where you use this broken up lava rock? Or you only use it as your substrate and have netlea on the top or something?


I just put pieces of it in tanks, some with moss tied to it. Here's a piece of it in my breeder box with my crystals right now but about the only pic I have access to on my imageshack


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Oh alright. If you make an entire substrate out of this as SoothingShrimp is planning to I feel like there would be a lot of voids for detritus to fall through and accumulate. Not sure if that would pose a problem.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> Oh alright. If you make an entire substrate out of this as SoothingShrimp is planning to I feel like there would be a lot of voids for detritus to fall through and accumulate. Not sure if that would pose a problem.


Yes, that could be a problem I guess. I made a big lava rock pile in my planted tank that looks like a avalanche sort of thing and my kuhli loaches love it. They all come crawling out when its feeding time.


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

You can get screened lava rock which is much smaller in size and would work great as substrate. Check with nilocg, he carries the small stuff. I use larger sized lava rock for my UGF matrix and in my canister. I also used Gorilla glue to make larger chunks to attach moss to.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Or put all the rock in a burlap or some strong type of sack and get a sledge hammer and tapa-tapa-tapa.


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

Yeah, I crushed mine for the UGF with a hammer but it didn't work as well as I hoped. In the future I'll find and buy the screened stuff. Just a lot easier even if it costs a little more. I do know I wouldn't waste the time or money doing a complete lava rock substrate for RCS though. Maybe some chunks of it throughout the tank but not as substrate.


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## kangshiang (Jun 28, 2006)

Should work. I did that before. 
1 layer of lava rocks on the UGF and then covered with Amazonia soil. 
Shrimp were breed like CrAzY!!!!!!


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Nubster said:


> (snip)I do know I wouldn't waste the time or money doing a complete lava rock substrate for RCS though. Maybe some chunks of it throughout the tank but not as substrate.


I'm curious. Why not?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Large voids in substrate, cost, and effort I believe


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## Ben. (Mar 29, 2011)

I think as long as your make the pieces small enough it would be a great substrate, especially for rcs, if you have all the time in the world go ahead and start smashing,


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

Soothing Shrimp said:


> I'm curious. Why not?


For RCS, it just isn't needed. Use a sand substrate and add in some pieces of lava rock if you wanted, plus lots of moss and other shrimp appropriate plants plus your filtration and you're set. Using an all lava rock substrate is just cost and work (if you crush the rock yourself) that is unnecessary.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

The thing I hate about a sand substrate though is that when you try to catch the little buggers you stir up all sorts of crap (literally and figuratively).


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## cookymonster760 (Apr 30, 2011)

Lava rocks is kind of bother some when it comes to catching shrimps since they go in between the cracks so youre best bet is using the small stuff


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

I have the small black lava rock that I intend to use to cover UGF systems and possibly for the primary substrate in neocaridina tanks but I haven't actually taken it out of the box yet to get a good look at it.

I decided to pay for pre-screened small size stuff for the reason that people are mentioning.


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## evilhorde (Feb 3, 2012)

I have been using lava rock in my shrimp tank for over a year now. I also use an underground air-bubble powered filter. 
I left the rocks as big as they came in the bag and it seems to work just fine. The shrimps hide in the rocks to avoid the fishes and the crab. When I want to catch shrimps I put a clear plastic cup into the tank with a few algae wafers inside. Once I have enough shrimps eating in the cup I gently lift it out.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

evilhorde said:


> I have been using lava rock in my shrimp tank for over a year now. I also use an underground air-bubble powered filter.
> I left the rocks as big as they came in the bag and it seems to work just fine. The shrimps hide in the rocks to avoid the fishes and the crab. When I want to catch shrimps I put a clear plastic cup into the tank with a few algae wafers inside. Once I have enough shrimps eating in the cup I gently lift it out.


When I pull spinach out after 2 to 3 hours, my FRs wouldn't let go until 2" off water, definitely a good way to catch shrimps in the tank.


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