Ralgo Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Awesome. I'll do that. Come to think of it... this might be a good place to start my tank thread. We shall see. I'll be going back out to the bank this weekend to gather some more rock for a fellow member... anybody else want me to pick some up for em? Link to comment
Deep Stops Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Now that I see where you got it, I think it may be Miami Limestone. It's an oolitic limestone from the late Pleistocene. It's composed mainly of ooids, which are spheroidal grains made up of calcium carbonate, and quartz grains. One thing to think about is the quartz content. Quartz is SiO2. Dissolution of quartz would leave silicates in your aquarium. However, I don't know if the rate of dissolution would be considerable with the relatively high pH in a marine aquarium... Alex Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Now that I see where you got it, I think it may be Miami Limestone. It's an oolitic limestone from the late Pleistocene. It's composed mainly of ooids, which are spheroidal grains made up of calcium carbonate, and quartz grains. One thing to think about is the quartz content. Quartz is SiO2. Dissolution of quartz would leave silicates in your aquarium. However, I don't know if the rate of dissolution would be considerable with the relatively high pH in a marine aquarium... Alex OW! Brain hurts! Not sure what you said there but it sounds OK... thanks lol Link to comment
Deep Stops Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Ha yeah sorry about that. I kind of like rocks. It's weird because with my own aquarium, I treat it like an art instead of a science. I put what I want in it, and I do weekly water changes. I never even test the water. Anyways I think it should work out. Good find. Also to the South there are outcrops of the Key Largo Limestone Formation. This is ancient reef, and would make a great base rock. Alex Link to comment
markandstaci Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I don't think quartz dissolution will be a problem with the rock. Quartz has an incredibly slow reaction rate that only speeds up under acidic or high-temperature conditions (like pH < 4, T > 200C). Nothing you will experience in your aquarium. One thing I thought of that might prove to be problematic is phosphates leaching from the rock. I noticed some of the yellow in the last rock picture that you posted... could be indicative of phosphate minerals being present in the rock. As you may know, Florida is one of the largest (if not the largest) producer of phosphate fertilizer in the world. Well, this phosphate is contained within rocks that are subsequently mined/crushed/processed. You should probably be testing for phosphate when you put these rocks in your tank. Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 I don't think quartz dissolution will be a problem with the rock. Quartz has an incredibly slow reaction rate that only speeds up under acidic or high-temperature conditions (like pH < 4, T > 200C). Nothing you will experience in your aquarium. One thing I thought of that might prove to be problematic is phosphates leaching from the rock. I noticed some of the yellow in the last rock picture that you posted... could be indicative of phosphate minerals being present in the rock. As you may know, Florida is one of the largest (if not the largest) producer of phosphate fertilizer in the world. Well, this phosphate is contained within rocks that are subsequently mined/crushed/processed. You should probably be testing for phosphate when you put these rocks in your tank. Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely be doing that! Actually... those spots show up on the camera but not when I look at the rock itself. I'll test for sure just to be safe though Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 LOL... not sure if you're kidding or not, but I know the taste you're talking about if you are being serious! haha LOL crap... you caught me before i edited out that stupid comment ha ha Link to comment
markandstaci Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 lol... deleted it Anyway, it is kind of like sulfur but a little more "metallic" I guess. And not as strong either. You can smell it if there is enough, but it might be hard to smell on that stuff with all the treatment you've done/all the other stuff on there. Link to comment
nibor Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Quartz is SiO2. Dissolution of quartz would leave silicates in your aquarium. However, I don't know if the rate of dissolution would be considerable with the relatively high pH in a marine aquarium... The principal raw material in glass production is quartz sand. Link to comment
markandstaci Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 The principal raw material in glass production is quartz sand. So you're saying all aquariums leach silicates into the water? LOL just kidding Link to comment
Deep Stops Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 So you're saying all aquariums leach silicates into the water? LOL just kidding Ya you are right. Quartz is a highly resistant mineral. Not sure what I was thinking. Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 OK so I'm tentatively done with the aquascaping... what do you guys think? Link to comment
qwiksilver711 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 it looks nice, can you get to the glass to clean it on all sides? Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 it looks nice, can you get to the glass to clean it on all sides? Yup all sides are accessible right down to the sandbed Link to comment
Natural71 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I'm curious to see the water params after a few weeks. Suddenly this thread seems quite interesting. It does look nice and I have boat loads of it behind my house down here in Davie. I'm very leery about residual chemical leeching. If it were me and I was dead set on using it I would have to boil, power wash, soak, nuke, burn and bleach that stuff then try and seed it in a separate tub for at least a month or two. Good luck with it and keep the posts coming (with pics of course ) Link to comment
Ralgo Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 I'm curious to see the water params after a few weeks. Suddenly this thread seems quite interesting. It does look nice and I have boat loads of it behind my house down here in Davie. I'm very leery about residual chemical leeching. If it were me and I was dead set on using it I would have to boil, power wash, soak, nuke, burn and bleach that stuff then try and seed it in a separate tub for at least a month or two. Good luck with it and keep the posts coming (with pics of course ) Will do!! Link to comment
beefus Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Any updates on this? This is relevant to my interests. Link to comment
Ralgo Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Any updates on this? This is relevant to my interests. Tanks is still up and doing well. I have seen no issues with PH or otherwise. Doing a proper bleaching, vinegar soak, boiling process is what helped the most. Latest FTS Roughly 50% of the rock is that base rock I found. Also ask ednangel how their's are doing... I sent them a bunch of rock too Link to comment
jaynkeel Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Wow this tank is looking great!!! You've got quite the assortment in there and to be honest it all flows together really well and looks balanced. Reading through the thread I was a little bit so so on the arrangement of the rocks until I saw the finished product. Congrats. And for what it's worth, I had about 40lbs of live rock from a tank I took down 4 yrs ago laying in the back yard under snow, leaves, bugs you name it. About a year ago I decided to re use the rock and did a quick couple of rinses under the hose and all has been fine with it. Totally repopulated and looking like it was never out of the water. It has now been in one of my systems for a little over a year and never caused any issues. Link to comment
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