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Re: Sand in substrate



>>"Around here" could be almost anywhere in the world. Since you didn't do
us the courtesy of giving your location, I had to do considerable digging to
find you are in the South SF Bay area. <<
Sorry, I thought most people knew by now where I was!

>>Blasting sand that contains more than a tiny percent of shells or coral
would be utterly useless, so I don't understand your comment on that part at
all. RMC Lonestar, who bought out Monterey Sand, does produce a lot of local
products that have a few (very few) percent of shell (but no coral) from
their facilities near Moss Landing, Davenport and Scotts Valley, etc.<<

That was the one I contacted. It was shell, not coral. Sorry. They told me
there was a "substantial" amount of seashell, more than in the past because
it was cheaper material. This was last year.

>>Their "Lapis Lustre" aquarium-gravel line (from Moss Landing) is one of
the prettier gravels you will find, but it has about 2-5% (by visual guess)
of
shell chips. They are the (attractive) really white flecks. That is only a
problem for breeders trying to maintain soft, acid tank water. The shells
tend to slowly dissolve at low pH and raise both GH and KH. In your water
that is not a problem. I used to soak it in pool acid, to create a "casing"
around the chips that rendered them more inert. After killing some baby fish
when rinse was inadequate, I quit that hazardous habit.<<

This is another one I have been familiar with.  It shot my pH up 5 points
and made keeping apistos difficult.

>>Because of its low solubility, I would expect the silica sand to have no
effect on diatomes. The soda-lime glass of your aquarium is many, many times
more soluble than that sand. [One learns weird stuff running an optics
shop!]<<

Thats interesting...I have been wondering about that for a long time! Anyone
else have an opinion about this? Thanks Wright.

Robert Paul H
Aqua Botanic.com
5339 Prospect Rd #117
San Jose, CA 95129