The Vinegar Test

[toad]

Does the vinegar test work with any vinegar? Or does it have to be white distilled?

All I've got in the house is Red Wine vinegar - think it'll work?

Thanks!

[lelei]

What is the Vinegar test? What am I missing..

[toad]

Oh, sorry :)

The vinegar test is how a lot of people test stones before putting them into the tank. If the rocks fizz when the vinegar touches them, they can't be put in with the fish, but if they are non-reactive, they are safe.

I wish I had a better explanation of how this works, but I don't :/

EDIT: Now that I'm googling it, I'm seeing a lot of people saying the vinegar test is unreliable. I've got mixed stones outside my sliding glass doors and have them in 2 of my tanks with no problem, but as they are mixed, I thought it safer to test them first...

Everyone is saying to soak the stones and test the water parameters, but I do not have a testing kit...

Any other methods that you know of?

[Olympia]

Hydrochloric acid is the best. You can buy it at hardware stores, forget what it's used for. Or pick up a liquid API nitrate test, bottle #1 is Hydrochloric acid (better choice cause you get a water test).
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[babystarz]

Originally Posted by Olympia

Hydrochloric acid is the best. You can buy it at hardware stores, forget what it's used for. Or pick up a liquid API nitrate test, bottle #1 is Hydrochloric acid (better choice cause you get a water test).
Posted via Mobile Device

Just be careful with it, if it gets on clothes or surfaces it can eat through a lot of them. And you only need to drip a drop of it onto a rock to see if there's a reaction. I used this in my geology class to identify rocks and it is powerful stuff.

[toad]

Cool, thanks guys!