# ADA rocks at landscape supply places?



## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

If you have a rock yard nearby, it is definitely worth going to see if you can find rocks you like, the savings over something purchased at an LFS or online is ridiculous. 

I haven't seen any rock quite as nice as the ADA stuff at a landscaping place.
However, I bought a trunk full of two types of hand selected lava rock, that I am very happy with, for $6:biggrin:


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## sostoudt (Aug 22, 2008)

just when i was about to give up on finding rocks. i happened upon a small landscape business for ponds and waterfalls they had zebra stone. you almost gaurenteed to have to find a specialty place that would deal with in decorative stones.

p.s. i got 40 pounds for 12 dollars.


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

sostoudt said:


> just when i was about to give up on finding rocks. i happened upon a small landscape business for ponds and waterfalls they had zebra stone. you almost gaurenteed to have to find a specialty place that would deal with in decorative stones.
> 
> p.s. i got 40 pounds for 12 dollars.


.30 cents per pound compared to $4 dollars/lb....
ohh wow..
thank you, that gave me something to go on.
looks like im going digging in the yellow pages tomorrow to find a place that specializes in ponds/waterfalls, hopefully i can find just what im looking for.



i have never been to the place i posted above, but i have some feeling they deal more with large amounts of gravel, river rocks and that sort of thing. i dont know if i would be able to pick out 5 or 7 pieces of zebra stone from those guys, but it's worth the phone call to find out anyway.

i like the look of the zebra stone but am picky with it. i like pieces with much more black than white, and without any large white patches. otherwise it looks artificial and like it doesnt quite belong in the tank. i like em real jagged too. so i could spend a while picking them out.


im starting a large, open type black/white theme tank. black background, whitish sand, zebra stones, and all white/black fish, will be interesting.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

there has to be some place that sells these rocks in the US other than AF. I ran across a thread that had places in europe that carry it.

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_239&products_id=1437

http://www.aquaristic.net/shop.php/...668532/anid/363140/Mini Landscape - per Kilo/

there has to be some sort of geological name for this rock and someone has to collect/carry it. 

I'd probably say it's some sort of sedimentary rock of some sort.


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

I was at aquaforest twice.. about a month ago, but wont be able to get back there for a long time.

i got to see the seiryu stone up close in person, it looks awesome.
shouldve probably got it there, but i didnt feel like it.

i would be real happy if i could find out a geological scientifical factual name for that seriyu stone, i like it better than the zebra rock, its more jagged. 

i did find a place close by from the google business finder that deals with decorative stones...


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

after hours of research of rocks and zen and bonsai gardens, learning to read in japanese i have concluded that this ADA seiryu stone is some sort of black granite.

i found another place locally that deals in bonsai garden stuff, i might go there and check it out.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

granite would also make sense... i said sedimentary because of the rocks ability to raise the ph... but granite can have a lot of feldspar in it which has calcium.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

bingo discus... the mystery is cracked. here's a link to some rock in dallas

http://www.dallasbonsai.com/store/decorative_rocks.html

I'll also go and visit my local bonsai stores and see what I can come up with.


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

today i went to Nee Hai Bonsai.

it was an interesting place, those bonsai trees are neat stuff.

anyway, they had a small assortment of ying tak penjin stones. 
maybe i was wrong, perhaps it isn't a granite. i now believe the seiryu stone to be a limestone of this type. it was a dark charcoal gray with the white veins.
some were bonded together with concrete to form sort of skyscraper shaped stalagtite looking things. i was told that these are hand formed in china.

there was one rock garden display there, about 4'x4' that looked like a "dry iwagumi." with the stones. and some light green mossy ground cover plant. the stones were tall, jagged and narrow. some were almost 2 feet tall and about 8 inches around.

very neat. now at least i have a better idea of what i am trying to look for.
the bonsai place only had stones that were bonded with concrete, i want the raw stones with no concrete. so i will try to find some elsewhere.


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

check it;
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ock&start=80&ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N


this one too.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ck&start=120&ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N

interesting..there are a lot of rocks that look similar although formed a bit differently.

while at the bonsai place i asked if there was anywhere else similar stones could be found. he told me of a place on the edge of town with all sorts of funky decorative rock. i will go there soon and see what i can come up with.


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## skoorbza (Jun 8, 2008)

Hope you are successful, Discus. If not, I would try asking local professionals (as you did at the Bonsai place). Fish clubs, landscapers, artisans, anyone else like that you can think of might give you some ideas of where to look in the area.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

The site that DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR linked ( http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ck&start=120&ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N ? ) has some amazing great looking rocks. A few have calcite or limestone, but there are still many different rocks to pick through. They are beautiful!

About 70 miles from me is a huge deposit of light green rocks. I don't remember what they are called now. They are near Badin Lake, NC. I believe that they would look very good in some aquariums. There are also many granite and aluminuim quarries in that same region. 

The first gold strike in the US was discovered about 15 miles away in Concord, N.C. — In 1799, a 12-year-old boy playing along Little Meadow Creek when he should have been in church found a 17-pound rock, which served as a doorstop in his family's home until it was identified as gold in 1802 — the first documented discovery of gold in the new United States. Here are some more info:
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/ncsites/gold.htm
http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/s06.gold.rush.pdf


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## wickedj (Aug 17, 2008)

Im relatively new to the planted aquariums and i was wondering what type of rocks are safe to use in an aquarium? What to look for?


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

i'll go to my bonsai places this weekend and see what's up. limestone would make sense since it hardens the water. I orginally thought these rocks were sedimentary which would fit. I'll know for sure once i get my hands on some. I'm quite the geologist!


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

I visited the Dallas Bonsai warehouse a few weekends ago, before I left for school. 

The guy there was totally unhelpful and even a bit of a jerk... they had some medium rocks that looked a lot like Seiryu stone, but they wanted 150.00-200.00 PER STONE, and they wouldn't let me touch them. I asked to see the black granite they listed on the website and they brought out something he called "whisky rock". I don't even think it was a natural rock... very ugly stuff.


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

Good job you are doing there guys.

Lol about a month back I did like 8 hours of research on these rare rocks. I came up with a lot of info.

Also a while back i talked with screename who was selling about 1000lbs of seiryu stones. He told me that he got all the stones from a neighbor where the rocks were just piled up and sitting there. The Neighbors husband unfortunately no longer with us and he was the one who went to China and got the stones and shipped about 10000 lbs back.

Also I have done a lot of research on Manten stone. 

Unfortunately I don't think I have a lot of links to what I found. I will post what I have later on though to add to this.

Also Discus I would love to hear more about your findings.


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## Phusis_Eidos (Dec 15, 2012)

thief said:


> Good job you are doing there guys.
> 
> Lol about a month back I did like 8 hours of research on these rare rocks. I came up with a lot of info.
> 
> ...



Any update on more findings? Im trying to find a place to source ADA like stones in NJ. The closes I have is Moss, rock or gray stone.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Anyone have any information on maten-seki stone?


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## Phusis_Eidos (Dec 15, 2012)

Phusis_Eidos said:


> Any update on more findings? Im trying to find a place to source ADA like stones in NJ. The closes I have is Moss, rock or gray stone.


Bump


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Look in all the landscape, masonry, soils, brick... yards anywhere near you. 
Many of the stones are shipped all over the USA, and the more unusual (read high priced) are shipped from all over the world. 

The rock yards will call the rock by all sorts of different names. 
You simply have to go see what they have. No use making phone calls, and do not ask for any rock by any name known in the aquarium trade. 

Sometimes you will get a really knowledgeable person who can tell you some of the alternate names of a rock as it may be known in the landscape trade. You might use that name when calling some other store. 

I do not know the geological origins of most of the rocks, but getting a sample to test is a good idea. 
If you have traveled a ways and need to know right away you could carry with you some acid such as the API nitrate test. If I remember correctly bottle #1 is acid that is strong enough to react with limestone and related rock. 
For rock yards that are closer you could bring some zip lock baggies with you and a Sharpie pen. Look on the ground around the rock and pick up some scraps. Label it with where you got the rock and what they call it. When you return home test with acid, and also put the bits into a jar of water and test GH, KH, pH and TDS after a few days. 

The more specialized the store the more expensive the rock will be. A store that sells by the truck load may also sell by the bag or by the pound. A store that only sells by the pound will usually charge more per pound. Highly likely they just went to the same rock yard to get it.


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