# Gritstone



## NC10 (4 Jul 2014)

Hi all, I just wanted to check that gritstone will be ok to use? As far as I know it's basically just like sandstone, so should be fine.

If it is ok, does anyone know if it will affect the water? PH etc

Cheers


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## Vinkenoog1977 (4 Jul 2014)

From Wikipedia:

"*Gritstone* or *grit* is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is often applied to sandstones composed of angular sand grains. It may commonly contain small pebbles."

The one grit isn't the other grit, some are bound by calcium, which would definitely affect PH. Plus, as it's a mineral based rock, you would need to know the mineral base in order to determine wether or not that gritstone can be used. I would test the rock with vinegar first, to be safe; if it starts to fizz or desolve the grit, there's calcium in there, and depending on the percentage in the rock, it could raise the PH significantly.


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## Tim Harrison (4 Jul 2014)

If we're talking about Peak District Gritstone, I'm sure it'll be fine. It's a very durable building material. The inert silica grains are chiefly bound together with iron oxides which gives it its colour. I wouldn't worry too much about gritstones bound by calcium either, unless they're very soft. Seiryu and ryuoh stone are really just limestone (calcium carbonate) in various states of metamorphosis, and both are very popular aquascaping material. Sure some affect water chemistry but not enough to worry about, that is unless you're keeping specialist blackwater species like chocolate gourami.


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## NC10 (4 Jul 2014)

Thanks for the replies.

@Vinkenoog1977 - Thanks for that, I'd forgotten all about the vinegar test.

@Troi - Yep, Peak District. I'll go and collect some tomorrow and just leave it in a bucket of water for a week. See what, if any, difference there is. Cheers.


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## dw1305 (4 Jul 2014)

Hi all,





NC10 said:


> Yep, Peak District


 Should be fine, Carboniferous age Millstone grit then, and as "_hard as the hills_".

cheers Darrel


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## Edvet (4 Jul 2014)

UNFAIR!
I can drive a whole day and still i can only get mud and or sand..........................


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## Tim Harrison (4 Jul 2014)

It's "_hard as the hills_" alright I've spent most of my life climbing it...especially unforgiving when you fall...


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## NC10 (5 Jul 2014)

I'll be climbing Sunday 

When I say climbing, it's just a simple sticking a finger in a hidden hole and pulling yourself up. Great view though. It's only a big stack of rocks really, but knowing you're there on your own in complete silence (apart from the wind) seeing people look like ants wondering htf you got up there always makes me smile. I like reading people's carvings and dates up there too. I'm all excited now lol can't wait


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## parotet (5 Jul 2014)

Edvet said:


> UNFAIR!
> I can drive a whole day and still i can only get mud and or sand..........................


I can drive in two hours from the coastal sand dunes to 2,000 meters altitude...


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## NC10 (14 Jul 2014)

I finally got around to fetching some today. For some reason I'd forgotten how heavy rock actually is 

I managed about 8 decent pieces anyway, I'll go back for some more when I can. 

Thought I'd post a few phone pics of where I got it from. Ive been going here since I was a kid, not to pinch rock for a fish tank though  but I love it, especially on a nice day like today. It's an old quarry were I'm guessing they used to make millstones, don't know how I came to that conclusion


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## Edvet (14 Jul 2014)

Do those big grinding wheels actually fit in your tank?


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## NC10 (14 Jul 2014)

Lol I wish I had a tank big enough, they're huge. They've got to be going on towards a couple of tonne each.


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## BigTom (14 Jul 2014)

I do love those Peak District birch woods. I can't imagine this is too far away... the view is towards Eyam but I can't remember which edge it is -


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## NC10 (14 Jul 2014)

It doesn't look familiar to me, but if you're looking towards Eyam I'd have a guess at Froggat, if that rings a bell? 

Looks like an interesting place anyway and yes, probably only a couple of miles max away from where I was.


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## Tim Harrison (14 Jul 2014)

BigTom said:


> I do love those Peak District birch woods. I can't imagine this is too far away... the view is towards Eyam but I can't remember which edge it is -


That looks like Lawrencefield to me...some great climbs...


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## NC10 (14 Jul 2014)

Where is that @Troi ?


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## Tim Harrison (14 Jul 2014)

This should give you all the info you need...http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=91


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## NC10 (14 Jul 2014)

Thanks a lot for that link mate, much appreciated.

It's amazing what you miss when you don't know it's there. When we were in the quarry the other day, a couple walked in and said "how come we've never seen this". Its only just off the main track, but totally invisible if you don't know it's there.

Going by that site, half my rocks were from Burbage and the other half from around Mother Cap, the pictures being from the Mother Cap quarry. Mother Cap I'm guessing is my aforementioned "just sticking a finger in a secret hole and pulling yourself up"


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## BigTom (15 Jul 2014)

I have been up on FRoggatt


Troi said:


> That looks like Lawrencefield to me...some great climbs...



Think you might be right Troi. Lovely spot.


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## Tim Harrison (15 Jul 2014)

Most of the gritstone edges in that part of the world are pretty special, each has it's own ambiance. Some can be quite intimidating and oppressive...where something ancient lurks..., I'm not fond of Stanage for that reason, and also because you usually get eaten alive by midges. 

Other places like Froggatt and Burbage are much happier places...although still scary if you're hanging by your finger nails several meters above your last bit of gear with nothing but a bed of jagged boulders to break your fall


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