Can Quartz Be Put In Water?

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So you have some quartz or quartz crystals that you might be thinking of putting in water.  Quartz can have some definite eye appeal in various water settings.  You might be somewhat worried though if water will damage your quartz or maybe even pollute the water.

Quartz and quartz crystals are perfectly safe to be immersed in water. This mineral is known for its exceptional durability, making it resistant to water damage. Feel free to submerge your quartz specimens in water without worrying about any significant harm.

When it comes to quartz there are many different varieties of the mineral.  In fact, there is something called the quartz family in which many different minerals are classified under. 

A couple of notable ones that you may have heard of are Amethyst, Citrine, Rose Quartz, and Smokey Quartz.

Can I Put Quartz in My Fish Tank?

Quartz is a safe and visually appealing addition to your fish tank. When you decorate your aquarium with quartz and quartz crystals, you can rest assured that it won’t harm your fish. In terms of maintenance, cleaning your quartz is a breeze and can be easily incorporated into your regular tank cleaning schedule.

Like the glass of the fish tank and other items in the tank, gunk and grime will build up.  Your quartz decorations will not be any exception to the needed regular cleaning and maintaining of your fish tank. 

When it comes to salt water fish tanks, you can display your quartz and quartz crystals in them with minimal harm.  Quartz is hard enough that there would be no rapid deterioration of its surface areas to cause any harm to your fish.  Quartz does not just dissolve in water.

Keep in mind, quartz is fairly common on our earth.  There are literally trillions of small grains of it called sand all over our beaches and in the ocean.  You might only have the issue of keeping your quartz clean while in use in a fish tank.

This smokey quartz surrounded by an obsidian nest has seen its share of being exposed to water. Both quartz and obsidian would make a great display addition to any fish tank.

Other Water Worries with Quartz

Quartz can get water stains if droplets of water are left to dry on it.  Remnants from the water droplets after evaporation could be left behind on the surfaces of quartz.  Some light abrasive cleaning may be necessary to get rid of the water stains. 

I know that this is not my thing but some of you use quartz in some very different ways…  I’ll attend to those thoughts here.

Quartz and quartz crystals can be used while in the shower.  The water should not harm your quartz crystals and you should be able to clean off those hard water stains that might likely accumulate from doing so.

You can drink water with quartz crystals in it.  Some believe that doing so will give you “benefits” of sorts when doing so.  Not my sort of thing, but rest assured that doing so should not cause any harm as the contents of the quartz crystals will not dissolve into the water you are drinking.

Quartz and quartz crystals can be left out in the rain.  Rain water will not hurt your quartz, and in fact many put quartz out in their rock gardens and landscaping.  Quartz makes for great eye appeal outside without the worry of it being ruined by the rain.

Some light colored amethyst crystals in its matrix. Sunlight and water has had little effect on it for the year it has been in a small rock garden.

Can You Put Quartz in the Sun?

Quartz is suitable for exposure to sunlight; however, it’s important to note that prolonged sun exposure can cause fading of the colors that might be within the quartz crystal. Certain types of quartz crystals, such as amethyst, citrine, and rose quartz, are particularly prone to color fade when exposed to sunlight for extended periods.

This sun exposure can take quite some time to give its effects of fading on these variations of quartz.  For example, my rock garden contains some light purple amethyst (see above image).  This amethyst gets exposed to the sun all day long.  So far, for about a year, I have not seen any real visible effects of fading.  Most assuredly though, years from now I might expect to see some signs of fading.

Some other minerals such as topaz can fade a bit quicker.  Most topaz will have some sort of yellowish brownish color to them when pulled from its host rock.  However, many examples of topaz are clear, as they have spent shorter amounts of time in the sun where its color was bleached out.  See my article on “All about Topaz” to learn more about that mineral.

Rock Tumbling Quartz

You can put quartz and quartz crystals into a rock tumbler.  Putting nice structured quartz crystals in a tumbler will be a mistake, as you will lose its unique crystal shape.  Quartz rock, or quartzite, and unstructured or broken quartz pieces are often put into rock tumblers as they tumble well and can take a nice polish.

There are many examples of tumbled amethyst, citrine, and rose quartz available for viewing on the internet.  These are relatively cheap and with a polish make for some nice decorations.

Nice example of tumbled and polished rose quartz pieces being used as leaves in a porcelain tree.

Some quartz can be stained.  I’m not a particular fan of stained quartz as I like the all-natural look, but you can stain some samples different colors like blue, green, and orange.

Durable Quartz

Quartz has long been used in many different applications.  Having a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, makes this mineral quite useful and durable to water.  One of the more popular things and best examples of durable quartz going on right now, is quartz counter tops being installed in homes.

So when quartz gets wet, gets submerged in water and left there, and gets put out in the weather, you can expect that your quartz will be solid.  All things eventually weather or degrade over time, quartz is one of those minerals that extends that time too far out distances.  

(For a quick brush up on “weathering” you can read this article here; “The Breaking Down of Rocks by Different Types of Weathering”)

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