Also, many reefers on the west coast who cannot obtain southdown calcium
based play sand from Home Depot have used silica sand with great success in
reefs. Silica sand is natural in many places, for instance a reefer on
reefcentral dug up a section of turtle grass growing in a bay in texas, the
sand was silicate and he placed it in his refugium. It was covered in
beneficial copepods, amphipods etc. I beleive he has had great success.
Also, you will get diatoms in any tank, it is a phase of cycling.
IMHO
andrew
----- Original Message -----
From: "Neptune" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 6:54 PM
Subject: Re: silica sand ?
> Wow! I knew I loved this list! It sometimes amazes me how in depth (no
pun
> intended) our discussions can get.
>
> You have some great points here. Theories are just that, theoretical.
> Anybody can have one, and just because you have one doesn't make it
> true...even if you are a doctor. That being said, I would never put
silica
> sand in my tank. For one, it's not natural. Calcium based substrate is
> natural to the reef environment. I also believe that it leeches back into
> the water. I have seen the before and after affects of adding a good
> calcium sand to my tank. My pH stabilized whereas before I couldn't get
it
> to stay up. How it does that I don't know. The lower pH theory sounds
> reasonable, and it should be easy enough to test with a second pH meter
and
> probe.
>
> Craig
>
> > hhhhmmm. Interesting. Personally, and this is just me and an opinion,
and
> we
> > all know they saying about opinions, but I am not really on the Shimek
> > bandwagon. As a matter of fact, I dont really agree with most of his
> > theories. He has advocated keeping reef tanks at 82-83 degrees for a
while
> > now, and about 6 months ago, one of "the authors" of one of the
magazines
> > just ripped his high temp theories to shreds. This author (cant remember
> his
> > name or which mag it was in) also ripped many of his deep sand bed, set
it
> > up and just ignore it type theories apart too. I dont agree with Ron and
> his
> > sand bed theories, and although he may have had success with them, I
think
> > he leaves many things, specifically what you have to do to properly set
up
> > and support one of the sandbeds, out when he is advocating them. As I
had
> > mentioned in my giant email a few days ago, he says you need some type
of
> > export mechanism to export nutrients. I had read his material and had
> never
> > read that at all until I emailed him to "debate" some of his theories.
> >
> > The whole concept of the calcium based substrate leaching calcium back
> into
> > the water for corals to use can be, and from what I have seen, is
> completely
> > valid. The way it is supposed to work is that as the oxygen levels in a
> > sandbed lessen with depth, the pH in the sandbed is lowered as well. At
a
> > certain point (7.2 I believe) the water is acidic enough to actually
> > slightly break down the alkaline, calcium based substrate. Through slow
> > osmosis, the water, along with the calcium and alk buffers are released
> back
> > into the water, thus becoming bio-available for the animals in the
system.
> > Usually, the amounts released are so slight that we need to continue
> > supplementing our systems, but from what I know, it does in fact occur.
> >
> > The point is, the pH deep in the sandbed and the pH in the tank are
> > completely different, or at least are supposed to be. That is why the
> > calcium can become available with out melting the corals.
> >
> > I know you were just relaying what he said, so please dont take this as
a
> > personal thing. This is just what I have read and seen.
> >
> > IMO,
> > Shane C.
>
> ________________________________________
>
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