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Anonymous

Guest
Excellent article. Thanks. (But I'm still staying with Corralith!)
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Randy:

Do you have any comments on the amount of metals in the crushed coral tested ?

Do you think the levels found in the media will be a problem for people running a reactor and using a significant amount of calcium carbonate or would regular water changes stop build up of these ions?

Do you know if anyone has performed a similar analysis on CaribSea Geo-marine which seems a very popular rector media these days?

-Simon
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Thanks Randy, and thanks Greg! Could this be obtained in the so cal area? Conklin limestone? I will check around. The description is pretty good. I am looking for an alternative to geo marine. I think that Dallas the aussie uses something like this.
Thanks,
Joe

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Support captive raised marine life!
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Anonymous

Guest
Simon:

Craig Bingman and others have suggested that the high metals in synthetic salt mixes may come, at least in part, from abrasion of metallic equipment during manufacture. The same might logically be true for crushed coral, though I have no useful information one way or the other.

If these metals were coming from the crushed coral itself, I personally would not worry about it as the corals in the tank will probably take it out as they calcify. If they are coming from some unnatural source, then there might be more cause for concern.

I personally don't worry much about iron in skimmed reef tanks because I think it is quickly removed. I add quite a lot myself.

Aluminum is another surprisingly high one, and may be there for the same reason as the iron. OTOH, it has quite low solubility, and it may precipitate even if added to a reef tank in excess. It may never solubilze in a reactor. Could there be enough to be a problem? I have no idea.

Nothing else stands out to me, but I've not spent a lot of time thinking about all of the ramifications of every metal.

Greg would be a better one to answer about availability and such. I've only seen the half ton of limestone in his driveway!

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Randy Holmes-Farley
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Joe Kelley,

Conklin limestone is from the Conklin quarry in Rhode Island (the guy's name is Mr. Conklin, FWIW). The phone number (I'm sure they're gonna _love_ me for posting this!) is 401-334-2330. These guys are not in the business of calcium reactor substrates, that is for sure. These guys sell limestone by the ton. $20/ton for small quantities, FWIW. I've no idea if they would be willing to ship quantities of limestone crushed to the proper size. They do have a pre-bagged uniformly sized limestone that might be easier to ship, but this might be a little small for a reactor (almost sand sized, but very clean). I just recharged my reactor (first time since changing to the limestone) and I used 1 part of this 'sand' and 3 parts of the gravel sized limestone (size #4). It seemed to work out well.

- Greg Hiller
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Thanks Greg,
I will look locally for an alternative. Great topic.
Thanks
Joe
 

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