Gti_Leo
Aquarium Advice Addict
as i stated before, i have a friend who runs his reef with play sand and has never had an issue, and he does 30% monthly water changes
as i stated before, i have a friend who runs his reef with play sand and has never had an issue, and he does 30% monthly water changes
I believe that the rock helps and the more the better, but the rocks and sand help buffer by "dissolving" into the water column. The sand has more contact area with the water (by volume) and so it has a greater capacity for a buffer. I'm not saying rock won't buffer because it does... it's just that the with sand you have a much larger buffer.he's never told me about any PH problems or calcium problems.
our live rock is calcium based and with the right ammount of rock it should be enough of a buffer
+1When your investing the kind of money it takes to build a reef, you might as well lean on the side of caution IMO. I have spent so much on everything else, why cut corners on sand. So maybe I have to wait a couple more weeks to get the funds, it is worth it in the long run.
Thanks that's awesome. But one thing he doesn't touch on is the fact that our glass does dissolve (slowly) into the tank water. That was an awesome article and that "chemistry store" rocks... it ships to Canada... but they ship UPS so I'll have to ask about getting them to use someone else.Feature Article: Silica In Reef Aquariums — Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine
The best resource I found based on science, experiment, and experience.
Talks about dosing silica and junk along those lines, but there's a portion about the debate of silica sand in aquaria and it addresses most of the arguments.
thincat said:carey, the only problem I see is that the sand might be to fine and two things might happen.
1) you could get a constant sand storm.
2) The sand could clump and not become a filter of sort.