L/F aquarium sand

nightfire

New member
as ya guys know im almost done with my stand and will be moving it soon thanks guysand looking for say around 60ish lbs of sand......anyone has any availible or know where i could get it cheapest? thanks guys/gals
 
Not sure if anyone has any sand laying around but the critter and eBay would be your best bet. Don't want to take the chance of bringing something bad into your tank through someone else's sand. Just saying.
 
I have a 20LB bag of white CarabSea Oolite live sand - unopened. The kittens punctured the bag with their little claws, therefor it is no longer "live". Paid $30 for it - I'll take $15. Let me know and I'll bring it tomorrow to the meeting.
 
PMs sent out.....i looked at walmarts play san,but theirs is really red in color.....i suppose i can look at lowes sometime this month
 
That sand at Walmart and Lowe's is full of Silicate! If you want to ruin your tank go ahead, But i wouldn't use that unless you can find Southdown and I have not seen any of that around here in many years.
Bill
 
+1 on JUstin and Bill's advice. used sand can be a risky business, and the playsand sold around here is MUCH worse as it is loaded with Silicate.
 
yea,im thinking if im gonna get sand it'll just be the more expensive bagged sand from aquaticcritter or something
 
Silica sand is SiO2 mostly in the form of quarts which is chemically inert. Of course there may be impurities in it but who is to say there isn't any in aragonite. It isn't silicates like diatoms and such feed on. I have used it and used aragonite sand and I actually had better luck with the silica. I have heard that since I started reefing in the 90s but I have also seen articles saying it is a myth. I have never heard of anyone having trouble with it.

Here is one example of an article on it.
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html
 
I'm not saying definitely that you should use playsand. I am just saying the silicates thing is a myth.
 
silica based playsand is fine. The worse thing about it is it is not the most conducive for sand dwelling things like worms and what have you, since the sand crystals themselves are jagged and not round.
 
Is it not also true that silicate based sand does not aid in the stabilization of PH/alkalinity or buffering of your water? Or am I thinking of something else? Maybe its calcium?
 
Aragonite doesn't really do anything to buffer the water unless your pH gets really, really low.
 
silica based playsand is fine. The worse thing about it is it is not the most conducive for sand dwelling things like worms and what have you, since the sand crystals themselves are jagged and not round.

so then play sand would pretty much hurt snails...worms and even fish?
 
I have read that but I really haven't ever seen any negative affects on them. There are many ways to do it. Aragonite, play sand, bare bottom, etc. They all have their pluses and minuses. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
 
I have read that but I really haven't ever seen any negative affects on them. There are many ways to do it. Aragonite, play sand, bare bottom, etc. They all have their pluses and minuses. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

well in that case what would ya say the cons are of using play sand lol the pro i have seen is i can get a boat load of it for 4 - 5 bucks vs 20 or so of the other stuff
 
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