# Planted Tanks > Beginners' Corner >  Effect of Lava Rock on water parameters

## jamesneo

Hi,

I have a question on the effect of putting lots of Lava Rock in water say 4ft tank.

Lava Rock effect on water is:
1) Cause PH to go slight down <7 ?
2) Cause PH to go up >7 ?
3) Neutral to water ?

Thanks :Smile:

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## marimo

neutral , and inert
just that a lot of lava rock add volume to water in case you need to add medication or chemical in terms of litres of water

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## eviltrain

that depends on the nature of the lava rocks. some are neutral and some are man made. you have to look out to make sure.

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## jamesneo

Thanks for the feedback. Mine is the reddish type Lava Rock. Will post some pictures.

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## jamesneo

US Fissiden growing intensly and rooted on Lava Rock. It's a rock scape roughly 20+ lava rocks.
As i don't have any PH meter, thus asking this question.

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## marimo

can lava rock be man made? 
i saw articles of indonesian making rocks .. but lava rock is too unique because of the pores forms by lava

i only see before red and black.

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## darrentyl

I'm interested to know whether having lava stone does improve the water condition? If so, I might want to get some rock from Bro James.

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## hardric

Lava rock should be inert and therefore has no impact on your water parameters. The common red ones you buy at most LFS are these type. They don't directly improve your water condition as they are inert, but they provide more surface area for BB to grow, so in that sense, it helps to keep the water clean.

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## darrentyl

Thanks hardric for the explanation. Guess this is good to have but not necessary to have. Well, this should look nice in the tank with the moss.

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## redfever

I have 3 medium sized lava rocks....also with us fissidens....been there since day one....no impact on water parameters so far as they are inert....and my shrimps love to gather around these unique rocks.

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## Neondagger

Have anyone try tie us fissiden to mineral rocks?

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## marimo

u mean those commercial mine rocks? before you can tie, the mineral will break into powder and if the plant has problem and you wish to remove it , the mineral powder melts all over the tank
not a easy rock to handle , better just leave it alone to do it work

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