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Doesn't the " Black Sand " have a curse ?
http://www.snopes.com/luck/pele.asp
The source of the sand will probably make a difference. Obviously, black sand is of volcanic origin and there is 'young' sand and 'aged' sand. Young sand (at least that from the Big Island) is full of metals, notably iron with a chance of copper. It also contains nitrate and fluoride. I ran the water systems at the Four Seasons/Hualalai and Kukio resorts for years, and had to deal with the effects of rainwater leaching through young volcanic rock and into the aquifiers. Eventually, we installed RO systems rated at a few million gallons a day to resolve some of the water issues. Also, Baker (once curator of the Shed Aquarium) recommended against lava rock due to potential of copper leaching. If you're using it with good success, more power to you!
Secondly, since the sand is not arragonite, you won't get the mild Ph stability that you will get from standard reef sand.
I was under the impression that aragonite sand didn't buffer pH except in low pH ( meaning very low 7.s) systems.
Am I misremembering or mistaken altogether?
Maybe I'm thinking calcium...
I'll have to try to find those articles again.
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That's true, but the pH in slow moving water roughly 1" below the sand bed and under neath rocks creates pockets where the pH is acidic enough to help buffer the water. Also, aragonite does not need a pH of 7 to begin to dissolve. True aragonite in grains smaller than 2.0mm can dissolve in a pH of around 8. The cheaper alternative to aragonite--Calcite, needs a much lower pH to begin to dissolve, generally the lower 7s as you mentioned.
Yeah, I got in trouble with my boss (a geologist by training) when I told the Kukio people that some particles in the sand were magnetic. I had to literally take them out in the field and drag a magnetic through the sand to prove it.Interesting notes! Thanks for sharing. Somewhat surprising to hear since I have used Hawaiian Black Sand and it never had any magnetic properties.