substrate

[tylfly]

Hi,
I was wondering if anybody has used the Caribsea super naturals Tahitian moon substrate and what do you think of it?

Tyler

[luke33]

Should work fine if you want a black bottom......i wouldn't suggest a black substrate. Even though it should be fine, how natural is it? Fish do best when we make them feel at home.

[CSeaSee]

If that's the substrate of volcanic origins, I'd stay away from it- volcanic-derived substrates can leech a lot of unwated elements into your water. SeaChem also makes a black substrate- "Grey Coast" or something like that. I've used it, and have been very happy with. It's calcite-based so you won't get a calium boose like you can with aragonite, but you also don't have to worry about your water parameters going crazy. My fish don't mind at all.
Here's a link to an older thread: "Tidal Marine"

[Ninong]

SeaChem also makes a black substrate- "Grey Coast" or something like that. I've used it, and have been very happy with. It's calcite-based so you won't get a calium boose like you can with aragonite, but you also don't have to worry about your water parameters going crazy. My fish don't mind at all.

Do they make it or do they buy it? Is it natural or artificial? I assume you know what it is, right?

[inuyasha_lover_21]

I use natures ocean live sand. It comes from the sea bottom and its 100% natural. Its a little exspensive though.

[Ninong]

I use natures ocean live sand. It comes from the sea bottom and its 100% natural. Its a little exspensive though.

It's mined in the Bahamas by Marcona Ocean Industries. It comes from the Bahama Banks, the same place all aragonite in the hobby comes from. And it's not really "live" sand.

[inuyasha_lover_21]

Boy oh boy are packages misleading. Shame, shame, shame

[Ninong]

Boy oh boy are packages misleading. Shame, shame, shame

It's live in the sense that it contains bacteria. That's all. It's not what we in the reefkeeping hobby refer to as "live sand." By "live sand," we mean sand that contains more than just bacteria -- tiny microcrustaceans, polychaetes, and other helpful critters.

All aragonite in the world comes from the Bahamas and it's all mined by the same company at the same site. We're talking about aragonite that is sold to large corporations as well as aragonite that ends up in the marine aquarium hobby. And some of it ends up in the Garden Department at home improvement stores. But it all comes from the same place.

The only other aragonite on the market would be the real live sand that is collected from below the tide line in the tropics. The Florida Keys live sand is also aragonite but it's a little larger average particle size (1-2mm) than what you usually get if you buy live sand from the South Pacific. True live sand from the South Pacific can run as much as live rock. One major problem is that much of the beneficial life in it will be killed off in handling and transport.

[CSeaSee]

Do they make it or do they buy it? Is it natural or artificial? I assume you know what it is, right?

I guess I'll just post the link back to about 15 months ago and let people take it from there on their own: Seachem's Gray Coast gravel

I know it's magnesium calcite- calcite for short. I bet it's synthetic, but I don't think it matters one way or another. People with planted tanks seem to use it more than people with reef tanks (b/c aragonite more readily dissolves at our higher pH level)

[ReefHog]

I was in the bahamas on a cruise and I saw a barge full of sand sand. There had to be 20 dump trucks of the stuff on it.