Re: NANFA-L-- silica = diatoms?
Moontanman at aol.com
Sat, 22 Oct 2005 10:50:20 EDT
I've been keeping marine fish since I was 14 years old, I've grown live rock
and live coral as well as 6 species of marine fish and invertebrates have
done me the honor of spawning in my aquariums. I say this just to show I do have
a small amount of experience with this. Silica sand can and will cause
diatom blooms, but for some reason if silica sand is used as a filter material and
not exposed to light the effect is negligible. I don't know why bright light
is a catalyst for diatoms being able to access the silicon but anecdotal
evidence seems to support this. the reason glass aquariums don't contribute
significantly to diatom growth is the surface area of glass is tremendously less
than the surface area exposed by sand.
Michael Hissom (AKA Moon)
Lower Cape Fear River, Waccamaw Lake and river system, and coastal salt
water and brackish water estuaries in the same location. (South Eastern North
Carolina)
I have access to the only natural Ocean Shore Rock out cropping in Coastal NC
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