diagenesis

Interesting thought - trace elements (or lack of) causing the substrate to solidify.

Do you do water changes pered? Wouldn't most trace elements be replenished during water changes?

 

Hey Peredhil, I had a friend some years back that had put some non native rocks inside his marine setup, and had been experiencing some rather interesting problems with his parameters and fish/coral loss. Obviously your corals are thriving(probably better than if they were in the ocean!) but I am wondering if your rock is leaching something into the tank causing some of your problems? I don't know that much about the Texas holey rock but I have known people with a CC substrate running for years that had never had problems, especially with it solidifying on them. Just a thought, I love the look of your rock, but it might be contributing to something other than appealing aesthetics.

 

I am pretty sure it is due to the trace elements - mostly because I do not replenish the vast majority of them. It is something I am looking into test kits now for.

This particular rock was in an established FOWLR tank with a sand bed for almost 3 years before it was moved to mine (a relatives tank). I do not suspect it at all.

 

From what I read, I do not believe diagenesis can happen in an aquarium. They are talking about feet of sediment piling on top of each other layer by layer. Now, you can have old crushed coral that has leeched out all of its' elements. You can take some old CC out and replace with new but will get a little cycle in response. Or, just leave it be.