stones and rock

[91five0]

Best looking and compatible stone and rocks to use in a planted discus tank.

[Twistofer]

You definitely want to stay away from Limestone, Live Rock (dead coral) and similar type of calcium based rocks. These leech into the water, causing your KH/DH/pH to rise. Your hard mineral rocks such as quartz/granite I believe are safe. You can Google "San Sui" and "Koke" stone for the Japanese versions used in Amano's designs, depending on what you like. Sometimes the Driftwood sellers can provide rock as well.

[dagray]

River rock should work as it doesn't breakdown over time, lava rock is good (the smooth kind), slate, agates/geodes. These are examples of rock that would work.

[Solid]

I like using rounded river stones in my discus tank. However, I have also used rough pieces of granite in the past. Some things to consider is if the rock will breakdown over time. You can test this by putting a few drops of vinegar or other acid and waiting 5-10 minutes to see if it bubbles or reacts. A quick google turned up this: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rock_metals.php.

As a side note, many of the biotope style tanks i have seen (including my own) use river stones, however in the central amazon basin there are virtually no rocks or stones as the earth is mainly comprised of clay. So technically a discus biotope should not have any rocks.

[91five0]

My only reason for wanting or needing rocks is to anchor my manzinita down.

[Solid]

One thing you can do to anchor wood down is get a piece of slate, and drill a hole and use a stainless steel screw to attach as a base to drift wood. This allows you to get the driftwood to stay however you want it. Slate is aquarium safe, very thin so not very visble, and ussually easy to find.

[DonMD]

You can try universalrocks.com. I really like their products.