Sir your aquascape includes a hammer :p
That is true Sir. My reef also contained pliers, beer cans and asphalt. (still does) All that stuff is to show, or teach if you will, how silly it is when Noobs worry if they drop their nose ring, razor blade or paper clip in the tank, then the tank crashed due to diseases I never heard of and they blame that on a rusty magnet. If my hammer doesn't crash my reef which is "53" years old this week, that tiny paper clip or magnet won't either.
No, I won't put a right front fender from a Toyota Land Cruiser in my reef but only because it won't fit through my front door. Not that I feel it would harm anything. (OK, maybe that is over kill and you should go with a Fiat)
The Earth and Sea is loaded with iron and yes, copper, zinc, molybdenum and Cheerios and in a tank in large amounts, those things are "not" good, but they did not cause ich or Brooklyina whatever that is.
I once collected in the sea a very porous "rock" that weighed about 5 lbs. I kept it in a bucket of sea water all winter and forgot about it.
In the spring I decided to take a look at it and see if I wanted to put it in my reef. I removed it from the water and it fell apart. I discovered it was part of an anchor, a very old, deteriorated iron anchor.
I also noticed that in that bright red water was teeming with tiny shrimp and amphipods so how toxic could it be.
No, I didn't put it in my tank but I did add all those shrimp. That much iron would most likely kill any coral but "probably" would not hurt fish. I am guessing but I add iron in the form of rusty nails all the time. (don't do that)
Everybody with a 50 year old reef that never added rusty nails, raise your hand. Higher. :)
Go Scuba diving and find a rusty shipwreck. Notice that there are more corals growing there than on the surrounding rock. I wonder why.
Remember, before "everyone" complains, I did "NOT" say to do that and I don't want anyone to do that. I said I would consider my tank a success if it lasted for 50 years so I call it a success. I like to experiment so if it crashes now, I will still call it a success.
It's a hobby and everything I do is either for fun or experiment. So far I have not crashed the tank but the day is young. :cool:
There are so many threads I don't go on (even though Brandon wants me to) because I disagree with so much in this hobby that I get the horrors when I read to much. If a tank was medicated or quarantined for 2 months, I don't participate. IMO those tanks are to far gone for me and anything I advise would not work and I would not even know how to "fix" a tank like that because in my opinion, that tank will have many problems no matter what the owner does.
I realize this is totally 100% against the current "wisdom" now but remember , OK I won't say how long I have been successfully doing this :grimacing-face: (I also don't want to argue about that)
Threads of tanks full of algae which Brandon also wants me to join in on I also do not go on. The reason for that is different.
See that nice Coraline Algae? It's cyano. :astonished-face:
I feel algae is to complicated for us to understand and all healthy reefs in the sea grow algae but many of us continually try to eliminate "all" of it. My very healthy reef has quite a bit of algae growing in it now. I feel it is healthy. So does my little pregnant bleeny.
Spawning Hector Gobies
Spawning Mandarins
Spawning Gobi's
Spawning Watchmans
Or spawning 32 year old Fireclowns
Many of my fish spawn and almost all of them die only of old age despite the iron I throw in there, the no quarantine, no observation, no medication, the cyano and all the algae. I can and do prove these things are not harmful so why would I subject myself to all the arguments from mostly Noobs who learned all they know from fish forums and don't really have a full grasp of what it takes to keep fish healthy but fall for all the hype and advertising?
It is very difficult to try to teach someone something about using simple, cheap, easy methods when there are so many fast "cures" out there that promise a healthy tank full of Naso tangs in 6 weeks as long as you add something very expensive with a pretty French Angel on the box.
