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Hello, I recently moved to a new house and the back garden resembles some kind of oasis. Partially buried in gravel, I found a great terracota urn that i'd like to add to my tank. It currently has a nice selection of blotchy growth on it. Is there a process I should run through before adding the urn to the tank, or will a bath of boiling water do it?

Many Thanks

Paul

Genieworx wrote:Or will a bath of boiling water do it?

That and a nice scrub should do the trick.

Many Thanks for that, I'm always a little dubious with such things. A friend recomended tryiong a little vinegar to see if it reacted. Ive given it a few baths now so will add to the tank in due course.

Cheers

Paul

Terracotta is baked clay, and is pretty much inert. It is very unlikely to affect your water.

For future reference, don't bother with vinegar to test if your decor is calcareous. It is far too weak to react significantly with anything but pure chalk.

Instead try some heavy duty kettle descaler.

Haha, the scientist in me just wants to go and give that a try with some chalk!!

I gave the urn a few baths and a scrub but it still has some algae like stuff on it. I like the look of it as it seems old. Do you think its worth getting all of this off, or could it be a treat for my Plecs

Cheers

the plecs will eat it.

like any other algae; once it's submerged. imagina a rock with green algae on it near a river; once the rainy season floods the countryside you bet those plecs are gonna graze those rocks.

personally i never bother with cooking materials from a garden or so.
why? because on garden ornamentals there are no fish diseases.......

you only need to do a good shrub and rinse, that's all.
and never ever use ANY chemical; be it soap, bleach, chalc, vinegar etc! traces of one of these hitching along for a ride to the tank can be far MORE dangerous than a bit of gooy algae.

terracotta itself is inert, but it's also very porous; it can and does absord a load of water. now if IN that water there's vinegar, soap, chemicals.....those substances hitch a ride to your tank and screw up your pH, poison the fishes etc.

terracotta itself is inert, but it's also very porous; it can and does absord a load of water. now if IN that water there's vinegar, soap, chemicals.....those substances hitch a ride to your tank and screw up your pH, poison the fishes etc.

Good point Sid.

Always carry out any tests on pieces of decor that aren't going in the aquarium.

Many Thanks for all your help. The urn is now in and has some new friends in my Rusty plec and my L002. Looks the part too.

Cheers

Paul