black sand- will it buffer

[giha1972]

I wanted to set up a new nanocube 12g with black sand, and just seed it with sand from one of my other tanks to speed things up but I rad that black volcanic sand has no buffering properties, will this be a problem? thanks

[J-Bird]

I don't think it will be a problem, as long as you keep up with a weekly water change routine. If you find that your pH is out of whack, you could think about adding a buffer, but i think as long as you're sensible about water changes, that should be all you need to keep things in line.

[SaltyDawg]

J-bird is correct. You should also keep in mind that ANY lava rock or volcanic formed sand will raise your alkalinity, and throw off your PH a little. It is just a natural effect of the high alkality properties of volcanic born substances. Your problem probably wont be low ph but more likely high ph.

[giha1972]

yea thanks for your help, I saw some pics of some tanks with black sand and new I had to set one up, Acoustic has some great pics, I was talking to some buddys and they thought that volcanic sand would not have any buffering properties, like white sand, I was thinking about seeding it with sand from my other tank and put it in some ches cloth, you think that is a good idea? thanks for your help.

[SaltyDawg]

Just toss the the old in with the new. Your gonna get some white rock rubble mixed in with it any how. You know crabs banging around on the rock. Natural erosion of the rock. I would just mix it in real good in a patch in the corner. Leave the majority of the aragonite your seeding it with on the surface though. You have to let the anerobic bacteria get plenty of oxygen rich water to grow and spred.

[aggiereefer]

anerobic = w/out oxygen

aerobic = w/ oxygen

[Gerard the fish]

It wont matter... no such thing as a "sand" based buffer in a 12g tank there just isn't enough surface area and even than your grain size would have to be 1-2mm or lower...

 

- g