CC or DSB?

[Biggen]

is it possibile to make CC "Live"?

Some infauna will live in CC, but you can't make a DSB out of CC. You need sugar sized sized. Caribsea has a sand called "oolitic". That is what I used for my DSB.

 

[RubixCube]

ok, now the only question is this. How do you maintain a proper Ph without CC ?

 

[possum]

your salt should raise the ph right and if you do reg water changes it shouldnt drop

 

[RubixCube]

So, can i use the regular "fine to medium" aquarium sand from the lfs as a substrate?

 

[Guest]

If you use Carribsea, or any aragonite sand for that matter, you will have the same buffering qualities as crushed coral just smaller grains. Both of which have buffering capability.... The PH is going to greatly depend on how much oxygen exchange you have on the surface of your aquarium.

Some of us use 100% pure Silica Sand and not have PH problems. Silica Sand has no buffering capabilities at all...JM2C

 

[RubixCube]

Ok, yes, i was wonder about that. Is there a test kit you can get that tells how much oxygen present in a tank?


... is this one?
http://www.petsmart.com/fish/shopping/water_test_kits/products/product_14234.shtml

 

[steve-s]

Unless you suspect problems with the tank related to poor/low dissolved O2, I would not bother with these kinds of test kits. In most cases the ph will be a good indication of O2 levels. If ph is good, then most likely the O2 is as well. If the ph is usually at the lower end, then there may be a problem with gas exchange and is usually fixed by increasing surface aggitation, ensuring the tank is not tightly covered and possibley opening a window to clear out ambient CO2...

Cheers
Steve

 

[RubixCube]

Perfect. Thanks

 

[Bearfan]

Good thread all!