Paul B
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Note from the Editor: Our forum member @Paul B is highly respected in our community because of his vast experience and his willingness to share with others. @Paul B is one of those very rare reefers who has a reef tank that is almost 50 years old. He has seen all kinds of theories and hardware and techniques come and go. Sometimes his views and articles are controversial, but they are always enjoyable to read.
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This is not a debate on whether you should quarantine or not, but addresses rather IMO a big problem in quarantine or hospital tanks.
In an effort to minimize chemical and drug absorption, we generally shy away from real calcareous rock and prefer to use inorganic materials such as PVC fittings. Calcium-based rock will also absorb drugs such as copper, forcing us to add more of the medication every day. We can, of course, use pottery, river rocks, marbles or our wife's jewelry, but if she is bigger than us, we probably should not go that route.
There is a big problem in using PVC, and it has nothing to do with its chemical properties. It's the fact that the PVC we use is normally pure white, shiny and new looking. Fish really hate that and you can tell by the refusal of many of them to swim around normally or eat in a tank decorated with such material. It is not porous, offers few places to actually hide (yes they know you can see through the other end of that elbow and see them) and there are no nooks for food to be in so they soon tire of looking for it.
Even the mandarin feeder I invented won't work while it is new and shiny. It needs a few weeks in the tank to age and grow some algae before the fish will not shy away from it and actually eat from it. I get letters all the time telling me the mandarins are afraid of the feeder.
I have an alternative for PVC which is just as available and cheap, maybe even free: regular clay bricks that houses are built from. I have been using bricks in my tanks for decades. They are very porous, more so than reef rock, and I don't think they absorb medications...if they do, my fish haven't complained of it anyway. They are also heat resistant, so they can be boiled and for the most part contain nothing that would harm your animals.
Fish are not afraid of bricks in a quarantine tank like they are of PVC or China cups and because of their porosity, they are great in a sump as cheap live "rock".
I think they are best used under the reef structure where you can't see most of them, and you can save a lot of money with them as real reef rock is expensive. If you break off the square corners, they look like any other rock, especially after they get some growth on them.
I would not use bricks from Tibet, Siberia, Timbuktu or near the pyramids because I have no idea what is in those bricks--maybe ground up camel toenails--but American bricks are just made out of clean clay with a little silica and alumina, which is not aluminum, and they use it for antacids but its main use is as an ingredient in ceramics and bricks.
During the brick heating process the alumina fuses with the silica and makes a glass-like material.
From Wikipedia:
"Normally, bricks contain the following ingredients:[19]
Silica (sand) – 50% to 60% by weight
Alumina (clay) – 20% to 30% by weight
Lime – 2 to 5% by weight
Iron oxide – ≤ 7% by weight
Magnesia – less than 1% by weight"
There are all kinds of bricks that are manufactured using several different processes. There are mud bricks, which are just made with a clay soil and a binder like straw, and fired bricks. Bricks can be molded, dry-pressed, or extruded before firing.
Fired bricks are the ones that you would want to put in an aquarium. However, if you don't know what the brick is made of, and you don't have any analytical chemists handy, then soaking the bricks for a while in water, just like you would with any kind of man-made dry reef rock, and testing the water would be a good safety measure.
Also, using bricks that are old, and perhaps old and submerged in water for long periods is another safety measure because there's a good chance that any unwanted chemicals that could be leached out will have already left the brick.
You can also use bricks that have some old mortar attached to them, but the same safety measures will apply. Anyone who has made their own DIY "rock" out of mortar knows that new mortar initially raises the pH in water. The mortar has cure for a while in water with an airstone and circulation and frequent water changes in order for the pH to drop to acceptable ranges and stay there.
So, if you use mortar you should soak them in water for a few weeks before you add them to a reef. Salt or fresh water, it doesn't matter but if you use enough mortar it may change your pH slightly unless they are soaked. I have plenty of mortar in my reef as it is holding all my rocks together.
I like to use bricks that I find in a lake or the sea only because I want to be certain that they don't have pesticides in them. You can use new bricks which you can find in Home Depot but I would soak them for a week or so and test the water with some "test" fish or snails but I have never killed an animal with a brick unless it was a wasp that I wanted to smash.
If you put a brick in water you will see bubbles coming out of its pores for an hour or so showing us how porous it is. Porosity is great as you can also use it for live rock in a sump or as a base under your reef structure and the bacteria that colonize it don't seem to know the difference.
Bricks can be broken up very easily with a hammer (using goggles) and used as a support under real rock. It is also very cheap if you can't afford real rock because you used all your money on your tongue piercing.
If I had some questionable bricks that I had no idea where they came from, I might boil them.
I have used bricks since I had fresh water tanks in the 50's. I first used them because I didn't have any money and if I walked around in empty lots, they were free. I find them in lakes, in the sea, or at Home Depot. Bricks are easy to break with a hammer or by hitting them against other bricks. It is not easy to carve caves into bricks because they are clay and brittle, but you can break a few of them up and cement them together with regular mortar and build whatever you like. You can build an entire reef out of them, but of course they are red--at least until they are covered in growth.
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Note from the Editor: The views expressed in this article by @Paul B are his views and not necessarily the views of Reef2Reef owners or staff. We welcome personal experience pieces from aquarists of many different backgrounds, and we welcome the discussion that they engender. How you manage hospital or quarantine tanks is very personal, and we cannot be held responsible for problems that you encounter if you follow this advice above or that of any other personal opinion piece. Your mileage may vary.
The piece with barnacles on the left is a brick.
Photo courtesy of @Paul B, ©2019, All Rights Reserved.
Photo courtesy of @Paul B, ©2019, All Rights Reserved.
Note from the Editor: Our forum member @Paul B is highly respected in our community because of his vast experience and his willingness to share with others. @Paul B is one of those very rare reefers who has a reef tank that is almost 50 years old. He has seen all kinds of theories and hardware and techniques come and go. Sometimes his views and articles are controversial, but they are always enjoyable to read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is not a debate on whether you should quarantine or not, but addresses rather IMO a big problem in quarantine or hospital tanks.
In an effort to minimize chemical and drug absorption, we generally shy away from real calcareous rock and prefer to use inorganic materials such as PVC fittings. Calcium-based rock will also absorb drugs such as copper, forcing us to add more of the medication every day. We can, of course, use pottery, river rocks, marbles or our wife's jewelry, but if she is bigger than us, we probably should not go that route.
There is a big problem in using PVC, and it has nothing to do with its chemical properties. It's the fact that the PVC we use is normally pure white, shiny and new looking. Fish really hate that and you can tell by the refusal of many of them to swim around normally or eat in a tank decorated with such material. It is not porous, offers few places to actually hide (yes they know you can see through the other end of that elbow and see them) and there are no nooks for food to be in so they soon tire of looking for it.
Even the mandarin feeder I invented won't work while it is new and shiny. It needs a few weeks in the tank to age and grow some algae before the fish will not shy away from it and actually eat from it. I get letters all the time telling me the mandarins are afraid of the feeder.
I have an alternative for PVC which is just as available and cheap, maybe even free: regular clay bricks that houses are built from. I have been using bricks in my tanks for decades. They are very porous, more so than reef rock, and I don't think they absorb medications...if they do, my fish haven't complained of it anyway. They are also heat resistant, so they can be boiled and for the most part contain nothing that would harm your animals.
Fish are not afraid of bricks in a quarantine tank like they are of PVC or China cups and because of their porosity, they are great in a sump as cheap live "rock".
I think they are best used under the reef structure where you can't see most of them, and you can save a lot of money with them as real reef rock is expensive. If you break off the square corners, they look like any other rock, especially after they get some growth on them.
I would not use bricks from Tibet, Siberia, Timbuktu or near the pyramids because I have no idea what is in those bricks--maybe ground up camel toenails--but American bricks are just made out of clean clay with a little silica and alumina, which is not aluminum, and they use it for antacids but its main use is as an ingredient in ceramics and bricks.
During the brick heating process the alumina fuses with the silica and makes a glass-like material.
From Wikipedia:
"Normally, bricks contain the following ingredients:[19]
Silica (sand) – 50% to 60% by weight
Alumina (clay) – 20% to 30% by weight
Lime – 2 to 5% by weight
Iron oxide – ≤ 7% by weight
Magnesia – less than 1% by weight"
There are all kinds of bricks that are manufactured using several different processes. There are mud bricks, which are just made with a clay soil and a binder like straw, and fired bricks. Bricks can be molded, dry-pressed, or extruded before firing.
Fired bricks are the ones that you would want to put in an aquarium. However, if you don't know what the brick is made of, and you don't have any analytical chemists handy, then soaking the bricks for a while in water, just like you would with any kind of man-made dry reef rock, and testing the water would be a good safety measure.
Also, using bricks that are old, and perhaps old and submerged in water for long periods is another safety measure because there's a good chance that any unwanted chemicals that could be leached out will have already left the brick.
You can also use bricks that have some old mortar attached to them, but the same safety measures will apply. Anyone who has made their own DIY "rock" out of mortar knows that new mortar initially raises the pH in water. The mortar has cure for a while in water with an airstone and circulation and frequent water changes in order for the pH to drop to acceptable ranges and stay there.
So, if you use mortar you should soak them in water for a few weeks before you add them to a reef. Salt or fresh water, it doesn't matter but if you use enough mortar it may change your pH slightly unless they are soaked. I have plenty of mortar in my reef as it is holding all my rocks together.
I like to use bricks that I find in a lake or the sea only because I want to be certain that they don't have pesticides in them. You can use new bricks which you can find in Home Depot but I would soak them for a week or so and test the water with some "test" fish or snails but I have never killed an animal with a brick unless it was a wasp that I wanted to smash.
If you put a brick in water you will see bubbles coming out of its pores for an hour or so showing us how porous it is. Porosity is great as you can also use it for live rock in a sump or as a base under your reef structure and the bacteria that colonize it don't seem to know the difference.
Bricks can be broken up very easily with a hammer (using goggles) and used as a support under real rock. It is also very cheap if you can't afford real rock because you used all your money on your tongue piercing.
If I had some questionable bricks that I had no idea where they came from, I might boil them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from the Editor: The views expressed in this article by @Paul B are his views and not necessarily the views of Reef2Reef owners or staff. We welcome personal experience pieces from aquarists of many different backgrounds, and we welcome the discussion that they engender. How you manage hospital or quarantine tanks is very personal, and we cannot be held responsible for problems that you encounter if you follow this advice above or that of any other personal opinion piece. Your mileage may vary.
