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Red ceramic quarz for aquaria.


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I, and from the lack of replies I appear not alone, am slightly confused at your description of ceramic quartz, quartz being generaly natural and ceramic generaly being man made, I have tried to save and 'zoom in' on your picture to see the structure of the medium but it is still not clear as to what structure it has, a search on 'Wave Gravel' drew a blank, is it porous like fired clay pot material or non-porous like quartz rock and what were you intending to use it for ?

I would also point out that most materials that come from the ground that are red in colour are usually high in iron ore, despite iron being beneficial to chlorophyll synthesis amongst several other effects , the affect this may have on CP's at unknown levels,I could not possibly comment, despite the vendor saying it is totally water safe he is, after all,  a vendor and has a vested interest in making a sale ! What is Ok for fish may not be Ok for CP's.Hopefully others may be able to elaborate.

Edited by Buster
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I, and from the lack of replies I appear not alone, am slightly confused at your description of ceramic quartz, quartz being generaly natural and ceramic generaly being man made, I have tried to save and 'zoom in' on your picture to see the structure of the medium but it is still not clear as to what structure it has, is it porous like fired clay pot material or non-porous like quartz rock and what were you intending to use it for ?

I would also point out that most materials that come from the ground that are red in colour are high in iron ore, despite iron being beneficial to chlorophyll synthesis amongst other effects , the affect this may have on CP's at unknown levels,I could not possibly comment, despite the vendor saying it is totally water safe he is a vendor and has a vested interest in a sale ! Hopefully others may be able to elaborate.

 

Well, it actually is quarz, and quarz comes in different colours, from white to pink/red and I think yellow too. This quarz is ceramic coated, a quite common process used to prepare some kinds of gravel/sand for the aquarium: the ceramic layer is extremely thin. 

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3m Colorquartz, Ceramaquartz, Permacolor, Spectra Quartz the list goes on.

The Aquarist fora say it's all safe for fish so definitely worth risking a few plants in a trial. There's a vast array of colours which is a bit worrying as to the toppings some people may choose to use on their mediums. I've noted prices mentioned around the £10 - £12 mark for a 50lb bag.

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3m Colorquartz, Ceramaquartz, Permacolor, Spectra Quartz the list goes on.

The Aquarist fora say it's all safe for fish so definitely worth risking a few plants in a trial. There's a vast array of colours which is a bit worrying as to the toppings some people may choose to use on their mediums. I've noted prices mentioned around the £10 - £12 mark for a 50lb bag.

 

I think in this case the colour could even be natural... anyway I tried it with some acid (HCl) and no gas was released, so i'll try with a little pygmy Drosera I have....

Edited by cefa@
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I would use it bravely without any worries although I'm not big fan using sand in my potting mixes...

 

Normally I don't use it either, but I found that pygmies like a lot pure sand mixed with some gravel in the top layer

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