Posted by Mark024 on March 06, 2003 at 21:40:40:
In Reply to: Re: wet dry and reef posted by urozero1 on March 01, 2003 at 18:47:37:
Sorry bout the delay but I still don't think sand from the great salt lake will be of any use in your tank. While it is true that there is ammonia produced in the lake and also bacteria to break it down, these same bacteria are acclimated and designed to live in water with a very high salinity (much higher than they will encounter in your tank), a very high ph (if it is indeed as high as you say, at any rate it is higher than your tank will be) and a temperature far below the 75-80 that your tank will be at (probably more like 40). With such variance in the conditions, the bacteria in the sand will not be able to accomplish their "job" of breaking down ammonia in the tank but will not even be able to survive and if they change your tanks conditions at all it will be by adding ammonia from their death and decomposition (it would be minimal, but still not beneficial). I would recomend that you look into live sand and live rock from the pacific or even the gulf or mexico, drsfostersmith has live sand from the caribean for something like 1.75 a pound that would be much more suited to your tank's conditions. By the way, anything coming from the Great Salt Lake can't smell to good either.
Mark
