Very nice photos, and a very nice tank as well. DensityMan.
Just keep in mind that your Halimeda will require *lots* of calcium, so you should think about dripping Kalk, or even setting up a small calcium reactor.
I wish we(in the US) could get rock from the coast of Africa. Many times we get rock from Fiji that is dead and washed.
I don't think that LR from Africa will necessarily be any better than the Fiji rock - the problem lies not with the source, but with the way the rock is treated
after collection. As with net caught vs cyanide caught fish, the collectors, exporters, wholesalers and retailers in the supply chain must be
educated in the correct handling of LR.
The "old way" of curing LR (which was deemed to be correct when people still used UGF's as their only filters...) is unfortunately
still the norm today :rolleye1: All along the supply line the rock is left "to stew" in highly polluted water, and kept in the dark,
to maximize die-off of so-called unwanted life :mad2: because people don't know any better (how many LFS's and even hobbyists, still consider Bristleworms to be bad, and try to eradicate them ???). So, after six to eight weeks of "curing", you get the rock with virtually no life on it.
Sure, you
do get unwanted critters on "fresh" rock (mostly crabs and nudibranchs, IME), but it's relatively easy to selectively catch or kill them, and IMHO the advantages of fresh LR far outweigh the disadvantages of a few "baddies", if proper precautions are taken. So, instead of aiming to
kill off everything, why can't the LFS's (and others in the supply chain...) keep the rock with the aim of maximizing the
retention of life and then selectively catch/kill the unwanted critters?
OK, enough venting for now...
Hennie