Is there a difference between the lava rock sold specifically for use in aquariums and the stuff they sell at Lowe's for your garden other than price?
Lava rock
- Thread starter nerdyguy83
- Start date
FWIW, i have used lava rock from my parents garden in my tanks. No idea where it came from, but its worked out great. Just soak/boil well and let dry!
Only difference is the size. I've not found large lava rock pieces at home improvement stores, unfortunately. Is there a difference between Colgate toothpaste bought in the grocery store and Colgate bought in a drugstore? 
Point taken, beatle. Can you just take the bigger chunks you get from Lowe's and just hammer them into smaller pieces? I'm looking at it as filter media for a large DIY project, no as a decoration.
*Edit: Sorry, read that backwards. I want the smaller pieces, so yay for Lowe's.
*Edit: Sorry, read that backwards. I want the smaller pieces, so yay for Lowe's.
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I've heard there's no difference between the sand, gravel, rock etc...you buy at Lowes or any other home improvement store and the stuff you get at the LFS except for it needing more cleaning. I've used regular play sand in my tank before with no problem. I'd prefer the stuff from the LFS though so as not to take any chances. The last thing you want is introduce something that's going to turn your tank into the proverbial tank of death.
This is for the filter in the turtle tank/bin/mini-pond I'm building later this summer. I am going to do a fishless cycle on it and then mature the filter a little with some feeders. Hopefully if the garden variety lava rock [rim shot] poses a danger, it will show up before we add the RES.
Use nylon (they gotta be nylon) pot scrubbers instead. I had a similar question about bio-media for my canister. People pointed me the way to pot scrubbers at the cichlid forum. They have more surface area than lava rock and they're much, much easier to clean (lava rock needs a power washer for best results). They're 6 to a package, but I forget how much they were. They weren't that expensive. I got them at a Dollar Store. 