Is tufa safe?

[jones]

My tank has been set up for 3 days now. I put in mostly base fiji rock with a few small pieces of live rock to seed it. I also put in one piece of tufa, because the guy at the LFS said that it was fine for a reef tank. However, today I read in a book that metal ores have been found in tufa. So, should I pull it out or is it safe to leave in?

 

[cheapfish1]

did u cycle the tank first? cause other wise you are definitly gonna get flamed lol.

 

[reefiness]

well look at it this way...
when in doubt, pull it out.

 

[jones]

no, the tank is still cycling, from an earlier post I was told to cycle with the rock, including the live rock in it.

 

[reefiness]

take the tuna out and put in a piece of raw shrimp. it used frequently when cycling

 

[jones]

also, i guess a second part to my question is, if i pull the tufa rock out, and it was contaminated, could it have harmed my other rock during the three days theyve been in the tank?

 

[reefiness]

well why did you put the tuna in the first place

 

[jones]

Ok, I didnt put tunafish in the tank. I put a tufa rock in the tank. Maybe I'm spelling it wrong. But I put it in because the LFS guy said it was ok. No doubt because I had already bought the last of his figi base rock, and was on my way somewhere else to buy more. Anyway I pulled it out last night. I just hope it didnt leak any contaminants to mess up the rest of the rock in the tank. Also, I'm not sure why I would get "flamed" for not cycling the tank before I put a rock in it, but who knows.

 

[lepete]

I have 3 large white Tufa base rock in my 90gal reef for 2 years now. You know, the one with the a hole in the middle. I dont notice any problems. Fish and Corals are doing fine for 2 years. I would not worry about leaking contaminants into your tank if you only had it in there for a few days.

 

[jones]

Thank you for the response, for the record, the book that said to be careful with Tufa said to inspect it for metallic-ore veins because it has "occasionally" been found in it. It didnt say that it was neccesarily unsafe. I'm sure yours is fine, after 2 years you for sure would have known by now if it had the ore veins. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't scaring people into thinking they had unsafe rocks. I just got a little nervous, because I hadn't even looked for that kind of thing before putting it in. I like to play things very safe.
Thanks again for the response.

 

[fishamajig]

i have it as a piece of base rock as well and no problems. i wouldent worry about it.

 

[ryansholl]

I have my best coralline growth on a chunk of tufa. No problems.

 

[ouchthathu]

I added a little mayonaise to my tufa and had it for lunch between two slices of bread...

- Sorry couldn't resist.

 

[nereef]

"Tufa is a composed of calcium carbonate and, therefore, good for your water chemistry. it is soft, porous, and easy to mold. It's ideal for a fish-only or reef because you can shape it, algae readily colonizes it, and its porous so it doesn't displace a lot of water." Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies

 

[mudplayerx]

Your tank will be fine, and you did a smart thing by adding your live rock during your cycle. There's a live rock thread over in the Archives Forum if you need it.

 

[thegrog]

I've used Tufa as base rock for years and never had a single problem. Easy to use and mold for stacking rocks on it!

 

[jones]

Thanks for all the responses, very much appreciated.

 

[reefiness]

o i thought u were saying tuna.. lol sry

 

[reefiness]

ya the tufa should be fine. it will eventually gain all the color and stuff.

 

[schadiest1]

does this rock need any prep work before adding to the tank? I know to rinse it, but does it need to baked in the oven or anything else?