Argonite Tank

[Phang]

........Media other than aragonite will promote developement of denitrifiers, but not the aragonite's continuous calcium (and strontium) release into the water.

Hmmmm...... Coral sand or chips will dissolve under low PH......

As they are mainly calcium carbonate... same structure as that of coral skeletons....

[Phang]

If the sand goes from microaerophilic (very low level of oxgen) to anoxic (no oxygen at all), acids and hydrogen sulfide gas will be produced, threatening the corals and fish. The sand should be deep enough to encourage denitrifying bacteria, but shallow enough that some oxygen can diffuse to all areas.

Tanzy,

If the recommended size of sand is suppose to be suger sized, isn't there a higher chance for the production of acids and hydrogen sulphide gases according to the above mentioned quote....

I suppose oxygen diffusion should be more efficient in larger sized grains than suger sized thus anoxic areas are less likely to develop.....

but would still be efficient as a nitrate reducing element....??

BTW, what the structure of Aragonite... supposed to be similar to that of coral chips ... right??

[TanGo]

BTW, what the structure of Aragonite... supposed to be similar to that of coral chips ... right??

I have a small bag of Aragonite, now sitting in my 1ft tank.. They consist of different sizes of shells, chips..

2cts

[CKS]

AT: haha.. tortoise would make good "cleanup crew"

anyway... ive seen his posting on minimun footprint size for working DSB

will share the info here after ive found it

[Tanzy]

Tango,

Aragonite is just the name of the calcium carbonate crystal formed by corals. Crushed coral we get locally also contains some form of aragonite. All coral skeletons are aragonite. There will not be a significant contribution to calcium levels in the system due to biological acids dissolving the aragonite. Never heard of any reefer who use Caribsea or Southdown aragonite sand in US having not to add calcium because the sand releases sufficient calcium. If it does, your sand level will drop very fast! Have you seen how fast a calcium reactor 'eats' its media at pH 6.5?

Phang,

I'm not a proponent of DSB as I prefer the plenum system, which I use myself. For DSB, you are suppose to use sugar fine sand and I suppose/hopefully they know what they are doing over the pond since they recommend 6". If the sand grains are too large, anoxic areas might not form or be stable enough to provide a constant layer for the bacteria to thrive. DSB will always prodice hydrogen sulphide, dig deep enough and you will smell it. Other plenum users and I have never encounter this problem though. Hydrogen sulphide is not toxic at low concentration, so as long as the DSB is not disturbed, H2S won't suddenly be released in large amount. Both plenum and DSB work to reduce nitrate.

[TanGo]

Thanks Tanzy..

So I guess if I set up my 5ft tank, I will have a DSB in the main tank and a plenum in the sump.. Is that an ideal setup?

[CKS]

TanGo: i think the DSB in the 5 footer would be good enough... i would exclude the plenum in the sump.

Dr Ron speaks about minumum footprint size for working DSB

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...t=DSB+footprint

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...t=DSB+footprint

Dr Ron speaks about DSB in sump

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...t=DSB+footprint