Live Sand straight from the ocean
- Thread starter padams626
- Start date
ChunksInClemson
New member
No! You dont know who urinated on that sand last! Nah, on the serious side, I wouldnt put anything in my tank straight from the ocean. You really dont know whats in the sand. Some people say its ok, but come on, common sense tells you how much pollution is in the ocean. Yeah, it may be diluted a lot but still, it only takes one molecule of something bad. Sorry for rambling, so no, I would definitely not put sand from the ocean in MY tank. HTH
AquaReeferMan
Got Reef?
I agree with chunks. Hey just go out and buy sand. I just dont see any point in taking anything from a local beach.
Unless you want a live DSB, buying live sand might not be worth the money. BillsReef.com sells some, and would serve as a price guideline.
Sand from the ocean might be okay if collected from a clean area. Given that you're in FL, you might get some useful animals that way. I'd check with a local club, I guess.
Sand from the ocean might be okay if collected from a clean area. Given that you're in FL, you might get some useful animals that way. I'd check with a local club, I guess.
swims withthe fishes
New member
i setup a friend 120 with sand from a key off the coast of sarasota. we went out to about a 10' depth and very uneasily collected it into buckets from the top 3" of the bed. the sand is very fine on this beach, and i think that it looked nice in the tank. there was lots of life(most of which won't survive long in a closed system). the tank seems to be doing much much better than with the original dry aragonite/crush coral sandbed that he started with.
ChunksInClemson
New member
Go buy play sand and reseed it. Its really not that much different. At least you know that sand is clean!!
Everytime someone asks whether they can use Ocean sand you alway see the same comments which infer or state that Ocean sand is somehow toxic and should be avoided ... in general thats nonsense. People have been keeping aquariums long before aragonite sand was readily available at your LFS. I have been keeping aquariums using Ocean sand for over 30 yrs without a problem ... a simple search of Shimeks old forum will reveal plenty of posts where the good old Doctor endorses use of Ocean sand.
When using Ocean sand use some common sense. Obtain the sand from a non polluted place. If your taking wet sand from a cold Ocean don't expect any of the infauna within the sand to live in your 80 degree tank .. if thats your case then make sure you filter out whatever crabs, worms, etc you see in the sand because it will simply die and pollute your tank. If your taking sand from a warm ocean envirornement try and get it into your tank asap so you can preserve as much life as possible.
Hope this helps.
When using Ocean sand use some common sense. Obtain the sand from a non polluted place. If your taking wet sand from a cold Ocean don't expect any of the infauna within the sand to live in your 80 degree tank .. if thats your case then make sure you filter out whatever crabs, worms, etc you see in the sand because it will simply die and pollute your tank. If your taking sand from a warm ocean envirornement try and get it into your tank asap so you can preserve as much life as possible.
Hope this helps.
ChunksInClemson
New member
Say what you want, but maybe you've just been lucky. I know a couple of tanks that have been knocked out due to getting sand from the ocean FYI.
I didnt say ALL of it was toxic, there is a chance of it. Seriously, common sense. Do you know what was in that sand before you put it in your tank? Theres no way. So wouldnt you think it would be a bad idea to put something in your tank that you didnt know the makeup of?
I didnt say ALL of it was toxic, there is a chance of it. Seriously, common sense. Do you know what was in that sand before you put it in your tank? Theres no way. So wouldnt you think it would be a bad idea to put something in your tank that you didnt know the makeup of?
