Beach Sand...your thoughts?

[imtheonlylp]

so i posted this the other day in another thread and posed the question about picking up some beach sand to replace my crushed coral substrate with, then VERY VERY thoroughly cleaning it with fresh ro/do water (of course it will have a salt content in the sand, so i'd rather get it as clean as possible, not to mention whatever else is in the sand)....here are my questions: 1.) is this sand safe to use? ive heard of people using NSW in their tanks, but sand? with the outrageous prices of sand at the LFS and being unable to find any Southdown sand at Home Depot (they give me this look as if i had moosepoop coming out of my ears), beach sand just seems to be a much better alternative....2.) is this legal? i mean people take home sand all the time in their pockets or in tiny jars as gifts for those back home...so where does the volume of sand cross the legal threshhold if there is one? btw, i would be getting the sand from the Fla panhandle area (pure white sand)...any input? or do you know where i can get some Southdown at?!? ive searched the web for days now...in fact i think ive almost finished the internet

 

[latazyo]

typically it is advised to refrain from using it due to pollutants that may likely be in the sand...especially in places where humans have access

 

[saltycreefer]

who knows whats in the beach sand. i wouldnt reccomend using it for anything but kitty litter

 

[dugg]

I have clearwater beach sand in my tank. I washed it very good, but never had any issues. It looks much more natural then bag sand.

 

[imtheonlylp]

i was going to make up a few buckets of ro/di water then rinse each batch of sand in each bucket, sort of like an assembly-line....rinse, strain, rinse, strain, etc...i figured after doing this several times in clean water it should get rid of a lot of the contaminates...again, i see mixed results...good to hear someone has actually done it though...thanks

 

[latazyo]

do you dive?

maybe it would be better to get some from underwater

 

[dugg]

I rinsed mine by filling a bucket half with sand, and letting a hose run in it for 30 minutes. All the crap will float out over the edge, then rinsed with RO/DI.

 

[dugg]

Also, i got mine from ankle deep water right at the main beach area.

 

[ledford1]

Southdown is all but disappeared

Don't waste too much time looking for it

About the only way to find it is if you find someone tearing down a tank and looking to get rid of their stuff

Dry aragonite is a good way to go - cheaper than LS at least

 

[coyoteseven]

You'd probably be better off getting regular playsand (quartz based) from HD, but if you're determined to use beach sand, as mentioned earlier, I would collect it as far from shore as you can.




Dugg... it's good to see by your avatar that I'm not the only sick and twisted reefer that likes JoeCartoon. :lmao:

 

[thor32766]

yeah it would be easier just to go to a home improvement store and get play sand.

 

[imtheonlylp]

i thought it had to be calcium based though?

 

[sjm817]

Dont think that playsand is necessarily "clean". I bought a bag of nice white playsand from HD to check out. I put a 1/2 a cup of it in a glass with some water and stirred it up. A lot of nasty looking black foam rose to the top. I wont be using it.

 

[HBtank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8164061#post8164061 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by imtheonlylp
i thought it had to be calcium based though?

Most beach sand is silicate based.

 

[imtheonlylp]

so which is necessary? silicate- or calcium-based?

 

[HBtank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8164091#post8164091 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
Dont think that playsand is necessarily "clean". I bought a bag of nice white playsand from HD to check out. I put a 1/2 a cup of it in a glass with some water and stirred it up. A lot of nasty looking black foam rose to the top. I wont be using it.

Any playsand, silicate or aragonite can be dirty. Depends entirely on the brand and processing it goes through. it could be very clean as well...

The more purpose oriented sands such as masonary or quikrete silica sand is more pure in general IME. These are silicate.

I wash any sand I use though.

 

[HBtank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8164116#post8164116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by imtheonlylp
so which is necessary? silicate- or calcium-based?

Neither is. All have been used very succesfully.

Find one that looks best to you in color and grain size..

 

[Shagsbeard]

California's sand can have lots of metals in it. I'd run some very careful tests before I used it. This summer the beaches near here were closed more often they were open due to polution... bacteria mostly. If I was forced to use it, I'd "boil" it too. A few hours in hot water couldn't hurt it.

 

[Agu]

It's also against the law in some places to collect sand from public beaches.

 

[scott30si]

good:rollface: :bum: