Sand Beach

[lucedillo]

I want to use beach sand any body used it, somebody told me that after collecting what you need is to take a big bottle of vinegar and mix it into about just enough water to cover the sand. When it starts to fizz mix it well. After about 5 minutes pour out the sand and rinse it well. The vinegar will dissolve the sand's outer layer and give it a really good cleaning. After rinsing almost anything that was on it will pretty much be gone.

 

[bertoni]

I wouldn't use sand from a beach, but if you can go offshore a bit, the sand might be fine if the area is unpolluted. Once the sand's collected, you shouldn't need to do anything more than perhaps rinse it and then add it to the tank. The vinegar might help reduce some sorts of pollution, but I'd only do that with silica sand. I'm not sure I'd do it at all, actually.

 

[lucedillo]

But how to distinguish from silica sand from aragonite or other type

 

[bertoni]

Aragonite sand will dissolve away in a vinegar bath, well, with enough vinegar added. That's why I wouldn't try the vinegar cleaning on such sand.