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Re: substrates
> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 09:28:19 -0600 (CST)
> From: eworobe at cc_UManitoba.CA
>
> Clays and other soil particles can adsorb anions.
Dave, can you say something about the use of silts rather than clays
in aquarium substrates? I know you've said several times that silt
loams are ideal for aquatic plant growth, presumably in outdoor bodies
of water. My subsoil is almost pure fine silt, a glacio-lacustrine
deposit below an old shoreline of an earlier incarnation of Lake Ontario.
The soil is clay-like in texture, cracks seriously when it dries out,
but in the test where you stir it into water and time the settling,
virtually all of it settles out within 15 minutes. It's gray/yellow
when wet, almost white when dry.
If it turns out to be optimal, I think I'll quit my day job and sell
it for big bucks in little boxes... :-)