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Utah Sand and Rock Collecting?

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arthuriv View Drop Down
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Joined: August 08 2009
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    Posted: August 23 2012 at 12:21am
How many people want to get together and go out collecting this Saturday 25 Aug 2012 or schedule a Saturday in Sept or both?

If you want to go are you planning to sift sand on site or collect in buckets and sift at home?
If you want to sift on site do you have some thing to sift with or do I need to build some before Saturday?


Thank you!
Arthur


Edited by arthuriv - August 23 2012 at 12:22am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Blademaster2444 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2012 at 10:14am
Sometime in September would work better for me. I'm new to the forums but have had a 90gallon reef tank for 5 years
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Molli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2012 at 11:00am

Is Utah sand that really fine sand I've seen in a couple of tanks?  Is it high in phosphates?  I'd like some really fine sand to add to my Biocube and it would be fun to collect it myself!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arthuriv Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2012 at 3:57pm
Hi Molli,
The Utah sand is the really fine oolitic sand. It shouldn't be high in phosphates. You should wash it really well before use it!I have some in most of my tanks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nrbelk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2012 at 4:34pm
What size are the grains?
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arthuriv View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arthuriv Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2012 at 9:03pm

Here is some information from Mark Peterson's Secrets of an affordable reef aquarium the full thing can be found here:

http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244


Utah has two resources that are perfect for setting up marine/reef aquariums. Oolitic sand and Lake Bonneville Tufa Rock (LBTR). See the pics below. But these free resources do not come ready to use. They require first the finding, then the collecting and then cleaning prior to use.

1. Oolitic Sand

If dry, screen with a window screen or something similar to remove sticks, rocks, bullets, etc. Then rinse in tapwater about four times until the rinsewater turns from tan to a clear gray. Rinsing smaller amounts at a time is usually easier because of it's packing density.

2. Utah Aragonite Rock/ Lake Bonneville Tufa Rock (LBTR)

Blast it on all sides at the carwash with the high pressure spray in the Rinse setting. Squeeze the handle. Try to blast off at least 95% of the lichen and moss from all surfaces. Placing the tip of the wand about 3" from the rock surface will get the toughest stuff. Blast all holes. There is dirt in some nice holes that cannot be opened up unless blasted by the high pressure spray. When it's done the clean LBTR is pretty much sterile with very little organic material to cause pollution. Large quantities of clean LBTR cause no problem in any tank, new or old.

Above is how LBTR looks after picking it up off the ground. Below are a couple pics of LBTR in a tank that has been set up for 16 months. But for two exceptions, all the LR seen in these pics is 16 month LBTR. Can you find the exceptions?

The backlight in these pics is the bright morning sun. This tank is directly in the sun of an East facing window.

Quality Marines Aquaculturing & Captive Breeding program!
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