wseaton
Aquarium Advice Activist
Having kept marine aquaria off and on over the past ten years, I've built up a very simple set of questions in regards to live and sand live rock. As much as I've learned to respect and strongly advocate the use of both LR/LS, these questions constantly generate dumb looks from the staff at any pet store and I've never been given a suitable answer to any of them. I'll try and pick some brains here I guess and see what happens.
1. Why is live rock almost *always* kept in anechoic tanks at pet stores with no fish or other organisms in the tank to help kick start the nitrogen cycle, or keep it going? What is 'live' rock then supposed to feed off of? Other live rock? This to me seems like selling house plants from a room with no light.
2. Please explain how live sand in a sealed bag sitting on a shelf at room temps for months at a pet store suddenly becomes 'live' when it's immersed in a live aquarium? It would see to me the surface of Mars has more oxygen than a sealed plastic bag.
3. Bonus Question: Many of my reef keeper friends are convinced that DSBs (deep sand beds) are the way to go to keep nitrate's down. While I'm not for or against DSB's, I can't figure out how several inches of dense sand can possibly accomplish anything other than anchor your tank to the floor in the event of a tornadao or keep jawfish in bliss. Yes, I realize that little critters in the sand along with light/oxygen hating bacteria help break down nitrate - I'm not disputing that. What I'm baffled about is the belief that the amount of water circulation that occurs through several inches of dense sand is anything more than trivial. Without mechanical circulation, how can anything other than the first few inches of a DSB accomplish anything? How does water magically penetrate 4,5 and even more inches of sand substrate?
Please help enlighten me!!!!
1. Why is live rock almost *always* kept in anechoic tanks at pet stores with no fish or other organisms in the tank to help kick start the nitrogen cycle, or keep it going? What is 'live' rock then supposed to feed off of? Other live rock? This to me seems like selling house plants from a room with no light.
2. Please explain how live sand in a sealed bag sitting on a shelf at room temps for months at a pet store suddenly becomes 'live' when it's immersed in a live aquarium? It would see to me the surface of Mars has more oxygen than a sealed plastic bag.
3. Bonus Question: Many of my reef keeper friends are convinced that DSBs (deep sand beds) are the way to go to keep nitrate's down. While I'm not for or against DSB's, I can't figure out how several inches of dense sand can possibly accomplish anything other than anchor your tank to the floor in the event of a tornadao or keep jawfish in bliss. Yes, I realize that little critters in the sand along with light/oxygen hating bacteria help break down nitrate - I'm not disputing that. What I'm baffled about is the belief that the amount of water circulation that occurs through several inches of dense sand is anything more than trivial. Without mechanical circulation, how can anything other than the first few inches of a DSB accomplish anything? How does water magically penetrate 4,5 and even more inches of sand substrate?
Please help enlighten me!!!!