Myths....?

[NaH2O]

LOL - too bad they don't have snopes for reefkeeping. Thank goodness for that site - I'm so gullible.

 

[MikeS]

LOL - too bad they don't have snopes for reefkeeping. Thank goodness for that site - I'm so gullible.

hey Nikki, did you know the word "gullible" actually isn't even in the dictonary? :lol:

MikeS

 

[Boomer]

Hmmmmm, that word must be a myth then Mike

gullible

adj 1: naive and easily deceived or tricked; "at that early age she had been gullible and in love" [syn: fleeceable, green] 2: easily tricked because of being too trusting; "gullible tourists taken in by the shell game"

 

[MikeS]

ahhhh....you gave it away Boomer....(and please don't tell anybody I once fell for that, ok?) :lol:

MikeS

 

[NaH2O]

Here's a myth (I always thought this was fact) I just read this morning - I guess I never knew it: Silica sand doesn't cause diatom blooms. I read through Randy's article, and if the sand raises dissolved silica concentration in water, then wouldn't diatoms be right there to use it up? Tell me oh wise ones....is silica sand causes diatoms a myth?

and Boomer - I think its a myth that Mike and I will finally have our hands on a copy of the Sorokin book lolol

 

[MikeS]

Here's a myth (I always thought this was fact) I just read this morning - I guess I never knew it: Silica sand doesn't cause diatom blooms. I read through Randy's article, and if the sand raises dissolved silica concentration in water, then wouldn't diatoms be right there to use it up? tell me oh wise ones....is silica sand causes diatoms a myth?

Hmm.....I gonna have to stick with that myth until somebody gives me a good reason not to...

Where did you read this Nikki? Did it explain why silica sand does not cause diatom blooms? Just guessing off the top of my head, the only reason I'd see for that not to happen is if the sillicates released where in a chemical compound not useable by the diatoms....

MikeS

 

[Forestal]

Nice thread Mike

I think the silica in sand is in a form not easily dissolved, or at a slow rate...otherwise i thinnk you would see a constant diatom bloom on the sand bed eating it down to the tank bottom.

I use homedepot cheapie sterile sandbox sand (silica) in my tanks and don't have a problem with diatoms -

i only have problems with this brown algae i have to scrape off every day, but the lfs says its good stuff.......jk

i know my newbie setup (<1year) is a N=1 observed case only but i don't think silica sand is a big deal
i think an analgous comparison would be if you put too much calcium in a tank your corals will grow too much bc they need calcium

another myth:
if your LFS says something, it right (btw my lfs is pretty good, but no one source is ever 100% right)

another:

don't worry, you don't need a quarintine tank, just put the new guys in, if they aren't healthy, scoop em out later

 

[NaH2O]

Where did you read this Nikki? Did it explain why silica sand does not cause diatom blooms? Just guessing off the top of my head, the only reason I'd see for that not to happen is if the sillicates released where in a chemical compound not useable by the diatoms....

Someone put it in a post, but I never have even heard it argued before. I always thought the diatoms would use up the dissolved silicates quickly out of the sand, and as that amount is reduced, then the diatoms die off. In Randy's article he did experiments on water containing silica sand, and there is an amount of dissolved silicate present, but I am lost on whether or not the diatoms are actually a problem. Here is my post with a link to the article: Single Post - Sand from Home Depot

 

[Boomer]

Sand is not always quartz and it is very difficult to get quartz into solution. We have all kinds of geologic names for them, ie. arkose, subarkose graywacke, lithic and it is these that contain silica that can go into solution

Are you ready, are you sure you are ready , Randy doses “water glass” or sodium silicate solutions to his tank

Silica in a Reef Tank
http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

 

[NaH2O]

Here's a new one on me....from a thread on RC

Also, I have a whole ot of sdata I presented last month on a critical comparison between berlin, jaubert and ATS methods of reeefkeping on over 100 tannks an some 8-15 years of data - and the only tanks that fared wrost were the bare bottom ones - it was all the rage back in the early 1990's tilll we all realized that they were a maintenance nightmare, were sterile, unstable, required regular siphoning of detrtius. Yeah, they work...but like I saiid, I've got a lemon yellow Porites on Green Montipora for a year no under a an 18" fluorescent lamp in a ten gallon tank - anythings possible, and I think I have even written a line on my book and n many articles. There's just smarter and easier ways, and it depends on what you want to do, what you like, etc. Me persionally - and you did ask, btw - I'd never run another bare bottomed reef in my life. I thought they looked hideous.

I'll give him the regular siphoning of detritus....but I don't want that stuff rotting in my tank anyway. But sterile??? a maintenance nightmare??? unstable??? edit: oh yeah...I thought BB tanks have been around longer than the early 90s.

mojo's tank is so hideous that its like a train wreck....you can't take your eyes off of it

 

[Travis]

Here is a myth that I'm not sure if everyone will agree with me on because people have always disagreed whenever I post it. That is the myth that bio-balls collect detritus. I have kept reefs for 5 years and I've used bio-balls for more than 3 of them. I am using them now in a FOWLR. My mom's tank has used them since it was set up 4 years ago. I have yet to find a spec of detritus on any of our bio-balls. It does still collect in the sump so that indicates to me that it passes right through the bioballs due to the constant water flow over them.

 

[Witfull]

be it myth or fact,,im not checking to see if Travis' balls are clean~~

 

[Travis]

:lol: I guess you will just have to take my word for it.

 

[wave98]

This really is a great thread "Dark Lord", it is really informative, with a lot of particularly well reasoned, and accurate information to "boot"!

I haven't even read it all yet, I was having such a hard time for a while there trying to contain all the laughter, that I didn't notice I was actually "rolling on the floor"! :lol:

Geeze, Boomer has a sense of humor after all! I can hardly stand it, and mixing it in with all that useful information too! :exclaim:

I guess you got over your "Nitrite Shock" finally, I just hang a Seachem ammonia alert in there, and skip to Nitrate, P, Ca etc. I don't think the "alert" is all that meaningful either after "establishment".

Not sure about Boomer having dated himself so much with his references. It seems that "Older than the Cretaceous", probably takes care of that!

Outstanding! I just love it! > Wave98

 

[Angelscrx]

Here is a myth that I'm not sure if everyone will agree with me on because people have always disagreed whenever I post it. That is the myth that bio-balls collect detritus. I have kept reefs for 5 years and I've used bio-balls for more than 3 of them. I am using them now in a FOWLR. My mom's tank has used them since it was set up 4 years ago. I have yet to find a spec of detritus on any of our bio-balls. It does still collect in the sump so that indicates to me that it passes right through the bioballs due to the constant water flow over them.

I never heard of them as detritus collectors as much as them referred to as Nitrate Factories.

Myth bio-balls are great for all saltwater applications!

 

[Travis]

I agree, they can cause nitrate levels to rise but this isn't due to them trapping detritus. This is thoroughly explained in the bio-balls thread in this forum.

 

[wave98]

Here's a Myth for you. Snails and crabs cause Phosphate and Nitrate problems.

> Wave98

 

[Travis]

Can't say I've heard that one before, but either way, it certainly isn't true. I wonder what the reasoning behind that one would be to make people think it was true.

 

[wave98]

Sorry about that, I just couldn't help myself there, it''s just that so many people have been explaining about their "two holes", as if one was "black" and the other is some kind of "big bang", that spews out more "junk" than the algae that they control.

Kind of like the "DSBs" take all of our waste to some "Sister Galaxie", one of Boomer's favorites.

Here's one for you. The placement height of an input or an output that is underwater, has some effect on the effective "head" for that flow system! :lol:

Happy reef keeping! > Wave98

ooPS! I wonder about the reasoning on that one as well, I have never heard any!

 

[Scooterman]

Never heard of snails or crabs of being a myth but they do contribute to the poop so in a sense they do feed algae's.