Re: [GSAS-board] Steev, Text 3 or 3

[Paul Wallace <pwallace@u.washington.edu>]

Susan:

A little of both.  The 20L has brown/black gravel with sand, the 75 had 
fluorite/gravels.  The smaller red bits are from SMS, the targer flaked off the 
roots of Bolbitus.

-Paul

*************************************************************************
Paul M. Wallace, PhD.                   Tel. (206)685-6775
Staff Engineer, NanoTech User Facility  Fax: (206)543-3059
Center for Nanotechnology               Email: pwallace@u.washington.edu
Fluke Hall, Room 215             https://depts.washington.edu/ntuf
Box 352140
Seattle, WA 98195
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On Tue, 1 Apr 2008, Susan Welenofsky wrote:

> I noticed from your picture that there was a lot of red clay mixed with the
> gray. Is that the SMS? I have seven bags left of Turface.
>
> Susan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gsas-board-bounces@thekrib.com [mailto:gsas-board-bounces@thekrib.com]
> On Behalf Of Paul Wallace
> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 10:22 PM
> To: GSAS board members and alumni
> Subject: [GSAS-board] Steev, Text 3 or 3
>
> Steev:
>
> The draft text for the SMS article follows.  Please edit as it is a little
> late and the coffee is wearing off.  Pictures will be sent in a separate
> email.
>
> Working with Soil Master Select (SMS) and Turface
>
> In the past month a great deal of SMS or Turface is available through the
> club as a great planted tank substrate.  These products are commonly
> marketed as turf builders and baseball field treatments and are very
> inexpensive.  The cool thing is that these substrates are available in BLACK
> instead of the normal brown/red and work very well. While I would prefer
> Aqua Soil (in black or brown) for a pure high tech planted tank like Luis, I
> have a number of "fish tanks with plants" such as the clown and spanner
> barbs in the attached images that like to dig (makes Aqua Soil chocolate
> milk). This is what I have learned so far through 2 tank swaps:
>
> * SMS is a lot like Fluorite (fired calcined clay) and can be treated as
> such.  One method is the "wet wash" that uses lots of water (Fluorite mud
> patties?) to remove the dirt.  Thankfully SMS does not appear to have
> anywhere near as much prepackaged mud so the wet wash is certainly a good
> idea.   The other method is a "dry sift" that is used to drive off the dust
> caused by shipping.  My bag of SMS was VERY dusty (like the cat litter back
> in the day) with smoke plumes.  Do the sifting outside and add the remainder
> to an empty tank and slowly fill with water.  If you are still unsure, you
> can try the "Cap" method with a dry base and washed ~1/2 top layer.   In any
> case, the trick is to fill slowly without stirring up the gravel.
>
> * A 50 lb bag of SMS is ~ 10 gal (two 5gal buckets) and one bag is enough
> for 3X 20 long (30X12" footprint, 2"deep) or a 75 gal tank (48X18"
> footprint, 3-4" deep).  Mixing can look really weird.
>
> * These substrates are light (lighter than Fluorite) so care with planting
> must be exercised.   Over the past few weeks the clay appears to have become
> waterlogged.  The grain size is fairly small (note the use of oversize fish
> to make the gravel smaller).  There are some red flakes which may be more
> numerous in SMS than Turface.
>
> * SMS should be treated as an "inert" substrate in that is lacks the fine
> particles of Fluorite, secret sauce of Eco Complete, or Magic Sprinkle of
> Aqua Soil.  Ideas on bulking up for great plant growth include a fine layer
> of peat, a small quantity of molasses (to start the bacteria) or good old
> root sticks under your stem feeders.  No shortage of ideas can be found at
> www.plantedtank.net
>
> If you are able to swap a tank over to SMS or Turface please post a
> before/after picture to the forum (now accepting JPEG) or sign up for the
> upcoming home show.  Thanks again Larry and Susan for finally sourcing this
> material and offering to the club!
>
>
>
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