Substrates

[Valkyrie]

I have live sand in all 3 DTs. I need to provide some "variety" for a few fish and so I've gotten some fine sand that is for SW and made a few piles of it. They like it.
But I would like to add 2 other things but I'm not sure if it's ok.
1. I bought a canister of shell pieces. It appears to be mostly mother of pearl with a few tiny snail shells. It's typically used for betta tanks, because it's pretty. I thought a few piles of it might be nice for the jawfish to use in their builds.
2. There's the small tumbled natural rocks that are often used in freshwater tanks. I have some from a fw tank I had years ago and I have some that at one time was used in a planter. It's all the same stuff. Okay, I probably close to 10 pounds of the stuff, but don't judge. What do you think? Is that something I can give the jawfish to use? Seems like it would be a nice size for them to putter with if they want. It's not like freshwater type sand and release silica is it?

I'm always looking for the odd thing that other people may not typically use in their salt tanks. I can take pics of each if necessary.

OH YEA! One other thing, I'm a potter. Is it okay if I were to make things to put in my aquariums. Of course, I'd be sure to use glazes that don't leech and are food safe. Should I use porcelain or stoneware? Would it matter?

Thanks!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Really all you have. To do is keeep it as clean as you can. You can't use a few things like sandstones because they react chemically. Live rock actually reacts chemically to seawater at our PH. Beads shells and a lot of play sands are just fine.

Many ceramics and cements should be researched as they actually "leech" kalwasser in high concentrations until they're cured. Like some diy live rock recipes.

Why don't we we do it more in this hobby?
Fashion. An a lot of folks really don't know that much science and biology and most don't want to even clean thier sand.

But even more than a sand bed cleanliness is important. You really just have to run your hand through it every week.
My .02.

 

[Valkyrie]

Really all you have. To do is keeep it as clean as you can. You can't use a few things like sandstones because they react chemically. Live rock actually reacts chemically to seawater at our PH. Beads shells and a lot of play sands are just fine.

Many ceramics and cements should be researched as they actually "leech" kalwasser in high concentrations until they're cured. Like some diy live rock recipes.

Why don't we we do it more in this hobby?
Fashion. An a lot of folks really don't know that much science and biology and most don't want to even clean thier sand.

But even more than a sand bed cleanliness is important. You really just have to run your hand through it every week.
My .02.

Luckily I understand chemistry and biology as it's needed for my job AND my hobbies.
It's so not me to have a tank that is supposed to look like what you'd see under the sea. I want weird and wonderful.
Thank you so much for your .02
I appreciate it!

 

[Seyoz]

River Rock, Laced Rock commonly referred as cheap base rock, Super bad actually will leech heavy metals: copper, iron, etc. all of which cannot be seen. Yes, the pH of Saltwater will cause oxidation(leeching) fluctuating pH as well.

(Any and all tanks should run polyfilter won't solve this leeching, but helps keep unseen chemical s out of your water.

 

[Seyoz]

). And Au.. Aluminum