Live Sand From The Ocean....Should I or Shouldn't I?

[badcop]

Reesetricted

My opinion when it comes to this dilema is there are those that are curious and venture forth into the wild frontier. Then there are those that prefer their meat in a styrofoam platter wrpped in plastic and labelled what it is.

Going wild means there is risk. You already know in our hobby your going to spend some money. I'm sure you already have your answer too, But are checking the Lunatic fringe.

I say nothing like collecting your own, you know first hand what the environment was like, and any problems you have the actual real world eco-system to refrence back to.

 

[Reesetricted]

You guys are the lunatic fringe! :-D Probably true. Some of my friends were trying to convince me to drive and extra 4 hours to get some sand from south padre island. Said it would be whiter. I considered it but think I'm gunna stick with corpus sand. I mean it's sand from the "body of Christ"... That makes it better, right?

 

[Paul B]

I have been using beach sand for 30 years with no problem

I also have been putting things from the sea in my reef for decades but not sand. The problem is that the two people who use sand from the sea are in the tropics. The quote above is from Bermuds and the other one is from Mexico. Those places the sand is great. Not because it is cleaner, it is not. It is courser.
The sand we have in the states is ground up silica, quartz etc and is too fine. The sand from Bermuda and Mexico was made by the activities of fish chewing on corals such as parrotfish and is much courser. I have dove extensively in both places and watched this happen.
Our sand is just too fine. I am not sure about the sand where you live but I know here in NY I can't use it. I do however use the rocks, mud, water, seaweed, inverts and everything else especially the bacteria.
Paul

 

[Reesetricted]

The sand WE have HERE in the states happens to be limestone, aka calcium carbonate. The northern most reefs in the states lie 110 miles off the coast of texas. Approximately 30 natural reefs in the midst of dozens of man made reefs, aka oil rigs. These reefs have fish density that rivals that of the reefs of the south pacific...attracting periodic visitors like manta rays, sea turtles, whale sharks and schools of hammerheads. I invite you to take a dive in some amazing reefs that are relatively unknown to the general public. As one might expect, they are a nature preserve and are actually quite impressive. Thanks for the input about what you put in your tank though. I imagine regardless of whether you actually put the sand in or not, if pestilence was going to hitchhike, it would definately have the opportunity in any of those mediums.

 

[Paul B]

The sand WE have HERE in the states happens to be limestone, aka calcium carbonate.

The sand you have in Texas is calcium carbonate, I would consider that tropical. Northern sand is not calcium.
But either way, the northern sand is much too fine. Texas sand would be fine.

 

[rsmall175]

go to the beach get the sand all will be good

 

[Driftdiver]

The issue with collecting sand from the beach is two fold. First, there is the issue of pollution. Not only does the water and sand close to shore have higher levels of chemicals from runoff, but it also will have all of the items that washed up through time (oil, glass, plastic, metal, etc.) Not exactly the stuff you want to put into your system. The second lesser (in my opinion) issue is pests.

I know plenty of people who collect live sand. The difference is we all do it while diving. You pick a sandy location that is bare of turtle grass or other visible macro algae (make sure you are complying with all local laws). Typically I find areas that are in the 30 - 45 ft depth and off of any reefs or rubble. Make sure you look out for signs of life (crab burrows, burrowing fish, etc.) You will need a float bag to bring it to the surface, but basically by collecting at a deeper area the water/sand is typically cleaner and by not being right on the reef you avoid most harmful pests. With anything you collect in the wild, quarantining is the way to go....this means put it in your system by itself and keep an eye out for anything that you may have inadvertently picked up. E.g., tracks on the sand, appearance of burrows, etc. If it wasnt near a hive of activity (reef) the chance of fish borne illnesses and parasites diminshes as well.

Good luck.

 

[snakeklr]

Sir I have been using the sand from Lowes. Its $3 for a 75lb bag. for my 160 i put 3 bags in. Been using it for a couple of years now and no problems. only thing i had was first when poured into tank it makes a mess, but we skimmed it off the top and it cleans up within 24 hours.

If you are looking for cheap thats how i did it.

 

[klm2500hd]

I collected some sand from the gulf for my old tank. As you can see from my location this was no easy task. Quarantine is recommended ( no problems found, just wanted to run it with carbon and skimming first to clean it up and let any pathogens die off). FWIW in my new setup I just used HD sand and seeded with sand from other tanks locally. Haven't noticed a difference between the 2 methods. So for the price of HD sand versus the work of collecting I think It is easier to just buy sand and seed with other live sand or rock.

 

[CaribSands]

Hey Reesetricted,

Any update on this? Did you do it? I was thinking about doing the same thing...Going to the gulf and grabbing some sand to start a tank.