I'm moving and I have some questions

[pitbullpooch]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9772239#post9772239 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pitbullpooch
make sure you have good circulation with a cheap 6500k pc or any pc light that you can hang over the bucket or what ever you store it in. It doesnt take alot of light to keep the caroline growing and actually ive notice caroline likes lower light anyways.

heres what i wrote that goes along with what you stated angela anf to add to it i also did an experiment where I had alot of diy aragocrete that i put in my tank and some in my refugium and the ones i put in my fuge were about 70 percent caroline covered in 6 months and the rocks in my main tank with mh were about 40 percent covered so that was more proof that caroline likes lower light also ive always had my softies grow better under lower lighting.

 

[TitansFan]

How old is your rock? Maybe instead of worrying about the coraline you could spend this time "cooking" your rock? I am sure the coraline will come right back. I am sure some of us could even donate a cup of water filled with shavings from a scraping of glass.

If you do want to keep coraline low light, good flow, and calcium is all you need to keep it going. My fuge with just a regular old flood lamp from lowes grows quite abit of coraline.

As for the sand with the little amount you have it would be easily replaced. I really wouldn't try to keep it alive. I have 50 lbs of sand from the used tank I got in KY that I rinsed out really well and sun dried. I used some in my nano with my mantis and have had no problems.

Pitbullpooch I agree on the low light. My rock was totally purple under pc lights in an old tank. I moved it to another under MH and it has all but disappeared. The tanks water is identical. I get much better coraline growth under pc lighting than I did MH.

 

[pitbullpooch]

to angela: i wanted to add that i wasnt posting my last reply to sound like i said it first i was just pointing out how we had the same experience. I didnt want you jumpin all over me and callin me names for tryin to show you up. we all know how much of a bully you can be angela kidding ofcourse

 

[coral_reefer_25]

Everything is just over a year old. Why would I want to cook it?

Didn't someone here (eyebedam maybe) find a lead on some Southdown? Now I'm wishing I hadn't sold the 5 bags that I had been sitting on for 3 years.

 

[TitansFan]

Cooking it (leaving it in the dark with no nutrients and good hefty water changes) will "cleanse" it of all the nutrients such as phosphorus it has absorbed. Live rock is constantly absorbing nutrients in our tanks. One would believe at some time it would become saturated. This leads to the nice shedding of detrius sometimes experienced.

As far as Southdown that company has been defunct a long time now. I really doubt you will find any on store shelves. Yes, you should have hung on to it. Dr. Randy Holmes has said nothing is wrong with silica sand. It does not leak silica in portions that would degrade a tank. Heck glass is made from silica sand. Also aragonite does not buffer our tanks really like the companies claim. For aragonite to break down and actually raise PH it would have to be at such a low level ph in the first place that you would have other issues to deal with. That is why calcium reactors have to use co2 to lower ph low enough to allow aragonite to break down and release calcium raising ph.

 

[pitbullpooch]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9778533#post9778533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coral_reefer_25
Now I'm wishing I hadn't sold the 5 bags that I had been sitting on for 3 years.

i here ya. i had 20 bags back a few years ago and sold it all and now that i plan on a large tank i wish i had it but If you cant find any just use silica like rcmike said . Ive always used the silica play sand at lowes and it has always done me good. thats what i got in my tank now.

edit. i just read what titansfan had said about the silica sand and i used it based on the same facts he stated in his reply. i just missed his reply or i would have mentioned what he said along with rcmikes reply.

 

[coral_reefer_25]

So, "cooking" the rock means leaving it in a non-lit tub of water and do some massive water changes?

 

[rcmike]

Yeah, basically I think. It threw me for a while when people were talking about cooking rock. I thought RC had went looney.