Specs of rust in aragonite

[canadian_eh]

I finally filled my 1st sw tank and added the aragonite playsand last night. This morning I noticed a few specs of what looks like rust in the sand against the glass. How big of a deal is this? Has anyone else ever noticed this in their tanks?

At first I panicked thinking I'm doomed but now as I think of it I'm not sure its that big of a deal since most people here seem to use the playsand in their reef tanks and I'm sure there are always some contaminants since this is meant as playsand and not aquarium sand.

Also they sink old rusty old ships in the ocean to help build reefs so how bad can a few specs be in a tank? Sure the aquarium is a closed system but the corals growing directly on a sunken ships must be getting a bigger dose of "bad stuff".

Thoughts?

 

[darb2]

it is probably diatoms. they are normal in a net setup. The should dissapear in a week or so. 8)

 

[canadian_eh]

Thanks Darb2...I was wondering about diatoms. I had done a search on the forum for rust and about all I came up with was info on diatoms...but would diatoms form if the only thing in the tank is aragonite, RO water and IO salt?...oh also its not just on top of the sand its in it

 

[Atari]

One night is a bit quick for diatoms... did you notice these things in the sand before you added it? It could just be one of the types of grain in it.

 

[canadian_eh]

No rust specs before adding to the tank. I still have 75 lbs unused in the garage that I just took a look though (bought extra in case I NEED a bigger tank over the winter).

The play sand definately has a few impurities since there are a few black specs as well ( I would try a picture but since the sand is glowing white I don't think it will work) I think this was rust since it discolored the glass a bit where it was touching ( i was able to rub it out though) On my FW tank I have a couple of rust spots from the gravel that was in there.

Right now I can't find any rust so there aren't that many bits ( I hid the bits I saw this morning cause they scared me too much)