Eco Earth V's Sand

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun May 23, 2010 10:52 am

Bump for Mac to see

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Sun May 23, 2010 12:38 pm

suebee wrote:Found something to do with my old rotting coco nut fiber! its making a nice mulch pile so i can have fresh worm castings. Really stinks when it rots however.

That is odd - the rotting stinking thing. I will moisten several smaller bricks or one of the giant bricks and may not use it all. So it sometimes hangs out for a while and the bottom is never nasty - and this is likely deeper that most tanks. Also, if I recall correctly when I used to use all coir, I didn't find it to rot much at all. It got a little darker over time but nothing like a smelly mess.

The bucket full i made with salt water that was really not that wet at all but was in the bottom of a tank dark was so nasty, moldy and stinking.

Moldy - when there was full strength salt water around? Is it possible you used fresh water and not salt? Most molds cannot abide by that strong and osmotic gradient.

I didn't want to toss it due to the expense of it so i put it in my mulch pile. So far so good. I hop to have some baby worms to feed my hermits very soon.

The worms tolerate the salt? You must have some super tough earthworms! I keep meaning to offer my crowd some earthworms - they like them hunh?

When re-constituted with fresh water the pH is in the in the 5.5 to 6.8 range. Originally I was thinking that it might have a lower pH and that it was acid etching the shells (drop a shell that is dulled into Vinegar and watch what happens) but at that pH is is a pretty weak as far as acidity goes. Perhaps it is still strong enough over time.

Someday I might bury a few shells in coir and also in a sand/coir mix and see if there is a difference.

In any event, I find the whole coir vs sand thing interesting. I use a mix because many of the more successful folks advocate it, and because it is rare for any animal to live in a pure organic substrate.

Keith

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun May 23, 2010 2:39 pm

yes it rotted in salt water for me..No the ee is not the only thing in my mulch pile, there are food scraps, leaves, grass clippings, egg shells, compost.. lots of stuff. Guess i have some great worms.. Ill put some in the mail to you Keith.

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Sun May 23, 2010 2:49 pm

suebee wrote:yes it rotted in salt water for me..No the ee is not the only thing in my mulch pile, there are food scraps, leaves, grass clippings, egg shells, compost.. lots of stuff. Guess i have some great worms.. Ill put some in the mail to you Keith.

And if it gets rained on the salt prolly leaches out come to think of it.

I am just trying to understand the whole Coir vs sand vs mix bit.

Keith

dbolack · Post by **dbolack** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:04 pm

suebee wrote:yes it rotted in salt water for me..No the ee is not the only thing in my mulch pile, there are food scraps, leaves, grass clippings, egg shells, compost.. lots of stuff. Guess i have some great worms.. Ill put some in the mail to you Keith.

Weird. I've never had anything rotten in our EE.

We've lost crabs in it and not in it. I have had a crab or two try to molt in moss and fail. Sometimes it just happens. It sucks.

I don't think that massive ocd shifts in the hab help.