collecting sand from ocean?

[gotbags-10]

So i've seen how you can collect some limited coral and fish with a proper liscence but what about live sand. I figure it would be better than the stuff i can get in the stores. Is this a good idea and can i t be used in home reefs?

 

[sablenine]

I'm wondering the same thing.

 

[Fishfirst]

no, most places its illegal... and a lot of places, it comes with a bunch of nasties>

 

[Rosseau]

Regardless of any legal issues a thorough hot water bath/washing would rid the sand of a lot of the things you don't want.

 

[sipos624]

My tank was going down hill one time and i didnt know what to do so I went to the mangroves and put some black mud from the mangroves in my refugium AND IT WORKED GREAT, I imediately (1-2 weeks) saw improvement. I would try putting sand in my tank but i would check for red tide before hand and if you have like 1k of livestock or something i wouldnt risk it.

 

[Tony44]

I thought about getting sand from the ocean. And yes boiling will get rid of all the parasites in the sand, but boiling will also kill of all the BB bacteria in the sand. More importantly, the thing that most people forget about is pollution. The ocean has trillions of gallons of water, if one area is polluted, fish can move to another area. If your tank gets the slightest bit of pollution in it, your fish have nowhere else to go, and the pollution will harm them.

Unless you live near a beach where there are no boats, or have a boat and can go a few miles out, dive and grab sand from the bottom, then I would say NO to this.

 

[elegance coral]

I went to the Florida Keys many years ago, back when you could collect stuff like this there. I got three buckets of sand and I'm still using the same sand today.

 

[DirtySouth056]

if you collect the sand make sure to get it a few miles offshore like stated above. You want an area around reef where the current is strong, you also would just take the top layer (first three inches)

 

[kenoobi]

If you quarantine the sand before using it in your main tank, it might help. It would be a real pain to infest your tank with problems.

If you are talking about sand from a populated beach (like Coney Island ) I would think no.

 

[nodea717]

I get my live sand from a secluded beach on Oahu... Great everytime, legal issue... only one gallon per day authorized.

 

[pmvalenti]

aside from the legalities, i had a friend pull sand a starfish he found at the beach, he used it a everything was fine, i would use it, but not before putting it in a seperate tank and siftting through it checking for things. if you boil it you might as well just go to the LFS

 

[adimal]

leave everything in hawaii alone

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

if you went off shore somehow and deep then it might be good. Your better off just buying it from LFS since they get it from the ocean depending on the brand. pollution and other stuff would worry me to much.

 

[zaf888]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9959741#post9959741 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LoudProudNPunk
if you went off shore somehow and deep then it might be good. Your better off just buying it from LFS since they get it from the ocean depending on the brand. pollution and other stuff would worry me to much.

agreed

 

[useskaforevil]

you're MUCH better off jsut buying 50lb bags of play sand at HD or lowes and seeding it. that way you know whats in it, you ddint break any laws, and you didnt waste any $

 

[Musho3210]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10049784#post10049784 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by useskaforevil
you're MUCH better off jsut buying 50lb bags of play sand at HD or lowes and seeding it. that way you know whats in it, you ddint break any laws, and you didnt waste any $

NO! Why would you use inert silicate sand in tanks that should have non inert, beneficial, aragonite (calcium carbonate) sand? That playsand belongs in 3 things, playgrounds, pool filters, and freshwater tanks. Silicate is what brown algae feeds off of anyway.

 

[nodea717]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9911273#post9911273 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adimal
leave everything in hawaii alone

Why

 

[jcjstl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10053051#post10053051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Musho3210
NO! Why would you use inert silicate sand in tanks that should have non inert, beneficial, aragonite (calcium carbonate) sand? That playsand belongs in 3 things, playgrounds, pool filters, and freshwater tanks. Silicate is what brown algae feeds off of anyway.

I have had playsand in my tank for a year with no issues with brown algae at all.... you yourself said silicate sand is inert... what is glass made of silica... so does brown algae feed off the glass ?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

its odd... for how strict US laws are on collecting live rock, they are amazingly lax on sand. I have not read or recall anything recently on the rate of accretion for live rock on a given reef versus production of coral sand, but I have to wonder if the basis for regulating stone is not similar to sand?

Just a couple months ago I was giving a lecture in FL with a Fish and Wildlife chap and in his lecture (on FL regs) he said (with some dismay) that there is no regulation on sand collection in FL. That struck me as odd (and I'm still not sure that was even true... I meant to scour their website or call some other F&W folks to see if thats true).

Nonetheless... legal issues aside, wherever you (legally) collect your sand from [check your state/gov regs], its a bit of a catch 22 to ready it for aquarium use. If you preserve max biodiversity, then you are more likely to bring in a pest or predator.

Still... that is my preference (max biodiversity) in most cases, so I recommend a strict quaratine of collected sand in a tank with modest lightign and vigorous (albeit diffused) water flow. After 4 weeks you will at least be assured that most diseases will die or wane without a host (8 week QT is even better).

As for pests and predators (worms, crabs, nuisance algae)... you simply have to be diligent as with any QT period and eyeball search each day for the term.

I actually use my fluorescence gear (~$125 for flashlight and goggles from Mazel's Nightsea.com) to scan for algae species and coral polyps too small to catch with the unassisted eye. The gear also shows off (metallic copper) many worms and crustaceans hiding as well for you to evaluate if they are friend or foe.

with kind regards, Anth-