WOW I thought I had a decent grasp of reef chemistry, but this is something else. Can someone be so kind and explain, in simple terms, what all this means?
Aragonite sand only has a half life of about 8 to 12 months. - What does this mean? What are the circumstances for this to take place. Please provide a reference...if possible.
so am putting a new bag of sand in my tank at least once every month to two months at most. It looks like it settles, but it actually dissolves - How does it dissolve? I understand the pH must be low, around 7, before aragonite starts to dissolve. So then this means the pH at the bottom of a deep sand bed has a pH of 7? Isn't this the basics of how a calcium reactor works? Inject co2 to lower the pH, which then dissolves the media (such as CaribSea A.R.M. - aragonite reactor media). Is your tank just a big calcium reactor?
I just move the top of the existing sand to one side put down the new sand and then spread the old sand back over the top of the new sand. - So there is no problem disturbing the dsb and no risk of releasing any contaminants? I never used a dsb, but it was my understanding they should not be disturbed. There is no problem releasing water that has a pH of 7, if that's how the sand dissolved in the 1st place?
the calcium, strontium, cabonates and magnesium that make up the sand does enter the water mix so it is not lost, it is used by corals and coralline algae for growth. - If you "use" up a 40lb bag, and that 40 lbs dissolves, once again where does it all go? You mean to say you get 20 lbs (that's 1/2 of what was dissolved...dunno where the other half might go) worth of coralline and new hard coral growth every month? Damn, your tank would be a solid chunk of calcium carbonate after a few years.
I'm not looking for any arguements, just some logical and sensible answers to these few questions.
