ok substrate test inprogress.

[StirCrazy]

ok Thanks to Bruce I have a small baggie of caribsea sugar sand to compare againt the dolomite.

first impressions are that sugar sand was a lot corser than I thought with no visable sediment (powder size particles) whare the dolomite is by my guess ~ 50% powder and the rest larger upto the size of the sugar sand. the sugarsand is grey and the dolomite is as white as you can get [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

now I put some dolomite in water last night at 5pm and today it was clear enuf to read through (only a slight haze) and the PH has stabalizeed at 7.8.

today at 6pm I loaded two wine glasses (one eith sugar sand and one with dolomite and added water from my fresh water tank (PH 6.2, GH less than 20, and KH less than 10) so this being acidic I expect a quick raise in PH. this will alow me to compare the buffering capacity of both also.
another thing I noticed is that when the sugar sand is moist it seams to pack togeather and stick whare the dolomite stayed free moving you can see by the clumping in the glass in the second pic.

dolomite is on the right in every pic.
see how white it looks


side view


ok for this one I added the water and stired with a spoon for a minuit


the stiring was done at 6pm today and I will test the PH in a few hours and update then

Steve

[StirCrazy]

ok almost two hours later and here is the pic

as you see the dolomite (on the right) is way clearer than the sugar sand and ony after 2 hours. don't forget I took a spoon and stird them up to insure good mixing.

the samples are still to murkey to get a PH reading from my test kit (get new and wonderfull colours) but litmis strip places both between 7.8 and 8.2 with the sugar sand being closer to 8.2.

I will try again befor I go to bed tonight.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

ok it is not 12:45am 6 hours 45min from the start and the dolomite has cleared up even more.


Steve

[Silverfish]

Jeez.. and I paid how much for that sugar sand??? [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[SuperFudge]

Good stuff Steve,

Are they in Saltwater?
If so,any chance of an alk test?


Marc.

[smokinreefer]

ok, so the dolomite settles faster, but what about with current in the tank. would the dolomite be more likely to blow around, or would it stay put.

i guess at the very least, it would be great for a dsb in a fuge.

[StirCrazy]

Marc, they are in fresh water as I don't have any salt water here yet.

smokinreefer, reefburnaby has been using it for 6+ months in his 90 gal though and says it it fine. so.... [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I will try do a ph test befor I got to bed and see how clear they are tonight.

Steve.

[Jack]

what is dolmite and where can you get it? also, cost?

[StirCrazy]

Jack if you read here it has all the info .. I have to get to work so I don't have time to re type it.. http://www.canreef.com/ubb6/cgi-bin/...c&f=1&t=000190

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

So far, it has been pretty good. I get lots of bubbles in the DSB and the nitrates are low. As for stirring the substrate, it takes about 6 hours for it resettle if you move a coupel of corals/rocks around on the sand.

Tigger has seen my sand and I did a demo for him. I use a floating magnet glass cleaner and I intentionally touch the substrate. Very little,if any, sand enters the water stream. If there is any...it takes about 2 minutes to disappear.

- Victor.