Turtle's Deep Blue Sea

[SashimiTurtle]

They seem to come available March/April. I waited almost a year for mine to show up on LA. Here’s my latest addition. Dont think ive shown him off yet as its hard to get a good shot of him. C. Africanus

View attachment 737662

I believe that is a cousin of the C. rubeus I shared above. I think I read that.

 

[Scurvy]

So very much like you in my Tahitian sand tank The acans and zoa's seem to do well but Ive noticed the digi frags look worse by the day after water changes. 40 lbs of Hawaain black enroute here too.

 

[Brew12]

Hey Turtle, which sand was in your tank? Tihitian, right?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Hey Turtle, which sand was in your tank? Tihitian, right?

Yes, the Tahitian is the suspected vanadium leach.

 

[Brew12]

Sand is confirmed as a low level Vanadium and higher nickel source

 

[SashimiTurtle]

So very much like you in my Tahitian sand tank The acans and zoa's seem to do well but Ive noticed the digi frags look worse by the day after water changes. 40 lbs of Hawaain black enroute here too.

Careful if you have any Halichoeres in that tank... its super coarse and almost locks together like legos. I doubt a wrasse could burrow in it without injury.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sand is confirmed as a low level Vanadium and higher nickel source

I knew it. Thanks, Steve... owe ya one.

 

[sfin52]

Well we found the source. You are not an sps killer.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Well we found the source. You are not an sps killer.

lol

 

[Brew12]

I knew it. Thanks, Steve... owe ya one.

Glad to do it.
We just finished analyzing the Hawaiian sand and it looks much better from a chemistry perspective. They also look surprisingly different under a SEM. I might not get access to the pictures until Monday as the files get transferred.
The down in dirty is that the Tihitian sand has inclusions that are high in Nickle. There isn't a bunch of it in there, but it is easily found and measured. The Vanadium was much harder to find. The SEM only showed traces of it in certain areas but we couldn't pinpoint exactly where.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Glad to do it.
We just finished analyzing the Hawaiian sand and it looks much better from a chemistry perspective. They also look surprisingly different under a SEM. I might not get access to the pictures until Monday as the files get transferred.
The down in dirty is that the Tihitian sand has inclusions that are high in Nickle. There isn't a bunch of it in there, but it is easily found and measured. The Vanadium was much harder to find. The SEM only showed traces of it in certain areas but we couldn't pinpoint exactly where.

It could be that the salt in the water had eroded most of the vanadium out of the sand grains before I removed it and sent it to you.

In December my vanadium level was over 2400ug/l. In April it was 1400ug/l. Nickel in Dec was right at 600ug/l, April it was 40ug/l.

I think eventually, it would have been maybe possibly semi reef safe with enough water changes... but how long would that take and how expensive would all that salt be...? 6.5 months, and it was still at toxic levels.

 

[Brew12]

It could be that the salt in the water had eroded most of the vanadium out of the sand grains before I removed it and sent it to you.

In December my vanadium level was over 2400ug/l. In April it was 1400ug/l. Nickel in Dec was right at 600ug/l, April it was 40ug/l.

I think eventually, it would have been maybe possibly semi reef safe with enough water changes... but how long would that take and how expensive would all that salt be...? 6.5 months, and it was still at toxic levels.

It is possible. I don't know how soluble vanadium is compared to nickel in a reef tank.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Someone else has been acting like he's feeling better since the sand change.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

It is possible. I don't know how soluble vanadium is compared to nickel in a reef tank.

Way over my pay grade, buddy.

 

[Katrina71]

Well we found the source. You are not an sps killer.

Yes he is!

 

[Brew12]

Where the green box is shows what the high nickle inclusions looked like.

You can see just a trace amount of Vanadium in this shot. We found one that showed a bit more, but we couldn't find the location again.

 

[Brew12]

By comparison, here is what the Hawaiian sand looked like. Much cooler visually, and no detectable Ni or V. And, less Fe also.

And this stuff just looked awesome! Some spots showed the lava flow, others had this odd crystaline look.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

That's cool s***!

The Hawaiian is nice, but its just too coarse a sand. Maybe if I put it in a small ball mill and ground it up a bit, but I'm not sure how it would react to that. You can really tell its lava rock. Really sharp, rough and jagged.

I'm pretty sure I'm going with Fiji pink, and maybe a bag of Bimini pink mixed in for the 90. Sand burrowers would have a really hard time with the Hawaiian sand.

 

[sfin52]

There are black beaches and reefs and they all have sand burrowers. I wonder given enough time the black sand is filed down to make it safe for them.

@Brew12 that’s some really cool stuff.

 

[Scurvy]

Im spending way too much time thinking about sand!!! I think Im going to scrap black altogether and go with thre Tropic Eden Reef Flakes i used in my biocube. Im bummed about the Tahitian beoing crap and holding a grudge towards caribsea at this point.