Play sand??

D_ivan24

New member
Im setting up a new 55 gallon tank. Wondering if anyone has used play sand for their tanks but I've read they contain silicates. Any other type of cheap sand i can use??


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If you are going to be spending good money on SW items why are you planning on cheaping out on sand? Which IMO just wouldn't look good.
 
u can use play sand but it pack bad cant have sand critter that burrow and it looks bad.
i get my sand at petsmart fo 15 bucks for 30lb bag its dry sand but very fine will blow around for awhile if in high flow
 
A few years ago i made the mistake of picking up a 40Lb bag of play sand for my 55 gallon freshwater tank. NEVER AGAIN, it look's awful kicks up a hell of storm, clouds very badly no matter how much i washed it, Scratched the tank up badly. And since i was using 2 marineland Emperor 400's the sand kicked up by my Cichlids destroyed my impellers. The sand can also be picked up by magnets If you have a canister filter i'm sure it's fine to use, but it just looks dreadful. Hit up petsmart NOW while the sand made by CaribSea is on sale. 30Lb dry sand was only $12

Do yourself a favor and don't cheap out on the sand.
 
There used to be a brand of sand called "Southdown" that was packaged one county over from me and sold all over the country in Lowes and Home Depots. The sand was aragonite from the caribbean and was perfect for our tanks. That company no longer packages aragonite and it's now mostly silica (some quartz). If you can find a bagged sand made from agagonite rejoice and notify the masses because you'll be a hero. :)

You could probably use silica sand in your tank since the pH in our tanks should not reach the point that the sand would dissolve in increase your silica...HOWEVER...IMO it doesn't look as nice, and the irregular shape (when looked under a microscope) is not the best choice.

I do have silica sand in my RDBS as the bottom 4 inches with southdown and other aragonite sand on top but ALL southdown/aragonite in mt DT. So the bottom line for me is, I only skimped on the cost for the sand I won't see. Silica isn't the best for a DSB either (because of the irregular shape) but it's working for me as a base...0 Nitrate on a 240g tank with minimal water changes.

So this is basically a long winded answer to what everybody else said...don't skimp...buy bags that are labeled "aragonite" or "oolitic" for your DT.
 
Play sand is made silicates based and they cause algae. The Argo sands help balance ph, calcium and other minerals. You will be better off not using play sand
 
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