how toclean rocks that are not from fish store?

Question
i just changed from 10 to 20 gallon fresh water because I am falling in love with the aquariums. I bought some big rocks that look like there from a pond to give my tank a natural look. I had them in my 10 gallon but had to get more to make up difference in 20 gallon. All of a sudden my tank looks dirty and the real plants I bought are real dirty too. event the rocks that I bought that were for an aqaurium are dirt too. How can i clean the rocks that are aqaurium safe and how can i make the ones that are from a regular store safe? of do you know where I can buy the kind of rocks I'm looking for? ( rocks the size of coins, not little gravel. There has to be a way to make them safe the ones at the store had to be made safe! I'll need advice on how to completely change out my tank and clean all the rocks and make them safe. If you know how could i call you. I hate typing. Please Help!! ALSO I have my aquarium in front of a window and feed them twice a day. dry flakes and blood worms at night. I like to spoil them if there is such a thing! And I tend to keep my light on a lot because it looks nice. I have about 13 fish in this 20 gallon tank but a good filter, the one that has 3 things that have to be changed monthly, by monthly and every 3rd month. Thanks and sorry for all the questions. Lynda

Answer
hey Lynda no problem that's what i am here for to answer questions :) Sorry but i cant really give ya a call my lifes too hectic as it is lol. Research is the #1 key to this hobby aswell as patience.. that's a must aswell.

Well you know where i get all my rocks from, the river.... that's the perfect place to find rocks of all sizes ans shapes and colors. Any river rock or rocks from the pet store (freshwater safe) all i do is boil them in water for about 30 minutes and just scrub them with a toothbrush to get them nice and clean. They dont need that much treatment... but that's what i do. Do not use soap ever... stay away from it, just use water to clean the rocks.

Stay away from rocks that could change the chemistry of your water... limestone is a bad rock for that. Just use river rocks.. (if you got a river).

I'd probably take your tank out of the window... out of direct sunlight. That's a big boo boo as it gives algae all the light it needs.. which is really bad, you'll find yourself with a big algae problem soon :).

Also depending on how much you feed your fish at each setting you probably only have to feed your fish once a day. Fish go for days without eating and if you train them to do once a day they will be fine with that. you really want to watch that you dont overfeed the fish as uneaten food will become rotten and cause many problems for you. Aswell water changes should be done once a week at least, probably about 35% changes. Water changes are never bad remember that, they take out the bad and put back in the good. Alot of people go wrong and there fish die at this step.. you need to do water changes weekly at least. I'd probably minimize your lighting to 10 hours a day to keep algae down aswell.

Good luck.

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