Does sprinkling some salt on top of the briquette speed crystal formation?
Yes. Look at the picture above again. The lower halfs of the briquettes were sprinkled with salt. These halves clearly have more crystal growth than the halves that weren’t sprinkled. Which is the best growing substrate: charcoal briquettes, unglazed pottery shards, course sponges, fine sponges, cardboard tubes or wet-type floral foam? I tested all of these and for reasons I don’t understand the briquettes worked the best. Pot shards came in second. Does roughening the surface of the briquette or drilling holes in it make crystals form faster? Not significantly. Does it matter if the salt used is iodized or un-iodized? No. While all the other photos in this article are of crystals grown with un-iodized salt, the following picture shows crystals grown with iodized salt. They look pretty good to me. Does it help to soak the briquette in water for 15 minutes before placing it in the growing liquid? No. I tried this and the growth started later than briquettes placed in the growing liquid
