Substrates and rocks

[Joy]

I am just getting started with my aquarium.  A friend gave me a 75 gal bowfront tank, stand and sump-thing?  (The thing in the cabinet with all the little blue balls!!!)  Anyway, my question is this:  I live in Florida on the Gulf Coast and want to know if I can use our beautiful white beach sand for my substrate?  Also, can I use local rock from the water in my tank as well?  I did read an article about soaking, cleaning, and acclimating rock that is purchased.  Could I not do the same with rock I get from my own beach?  I see online there is a company that sells rock from the Keys area.  Whats the difference?  I have a million more questions but I will keep it there for now.

Thanks for any advice and help.

Joy

[RandyFolds]

That is sort of a yes and no question... yes, you can do it, no, it is not legal. I am not too familiar with it, but I do know Florida has some very protected waters, particularly on the live rock front. So, continuing the question...yes, it is illegal, no, you probably wouldn't get caught. It comes down to a moral decision. There are some awesome hitchhikers you could come across.

The company in the keys selling live rock is doing so by culturing terrestrial mined limestone under a "bottom lease", where a company is issued a governmental permit to use a small area of the nearshore ocean to culture their organisms.

[Joy]

Thank you Randy.  Funny you should throw the "moral" thing in there!  I am currently taking an Ethics class!  Breaking the law is not my thing so I will stick to buying my live rock like everyone else!

Joy

[Bergy]

hey Joy,

maybe to discuss or understand this MORAL thing a bit better.... since laws are there for a reason and those reasons are the MORALS that we are trying to protect with teh laws...

If sand or critters or rocks or plants or whatever are free to go harvest, without any controls, there would be many issues involved..  I will cite the few that i know of...

If folks were to do this there could be the potential of over harvesting, leaving nothing for future generations to see and observe or protect as necessary.

there could be issues with importation of species into un-native areas, where tehre would be a potential for a species to take over without a natural balance...

An d there could also be the potential for people to take advantage and or leverage natural benefits intended for all to be limited by those that could 'control' those resources


obeying laws thinking that they are the morals, is not the way to approach things/life...  but rather that laws are to protect our morals...

If we can experience life and not affect our surroundings and people so that others and future generations can see and feel what we and our parents and our parents parents experinced should the 'golden rule'

that moral, so that future generations who may have better technology and or better resources to protect can live on this earth is our responsibility...



BUT, please dont think that i am an extremist... I am not the typical tree hugger...

I am not under the belief that we are in a global warming trend or that the trend is due to humans... and our our technology...

I am also not believing that we can and or seriously over foresting lands or seas or oceans... (in general discussions anyways)

Humans and out interactions in our environment is almost negligible...

some of the 'tid bits' of persepective that i offer is...

if you were to take every living human being and put them all together... they would fit inside Texas and have about a square yard of space between them and their neighbor...


Texas...

Everyone...

Algae in the oceans produce more then 75% of the oxygen in our atmosphere...

Algae -- 75% of the Oxygen...  not trees

not the miniscule amount of trees that we touch


anyways, with those types of perspective that allow me to believe that we are not truly doing irrepreable damage... not yet anyways, and as long as we keep things in perspective and keep things in mind to prevent or minimize our 'foot print' then we are going to be fine...