Sand in tampa bay area

justiceprevails

New member
I know I'm going to catch some heat for even considering this but.... Does anyone know if the sand on the beaches and islands ...say Egmont key is calcium or silica based. It seems that you could rinse it multiple times with fresh water and probably be ok. It just pains me to pay a $1.00 a pound for dry sand. Especially when I need 100 - 150 lbs. I know that the play sand in the state is silica. And its not quite worth a drive to Virginia (where I here you can get Caribbean stuff). And just so I don't miss the oblivious .... anybody know where I can save on suitable sand?.
 
Re: Sand in tampa bay area

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8989256#post8989256 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justiceprevails
I know I'm going to catch some heat for even considering this but.... Does anyone know if the sand on the beaches and islands ...say Egmont key is calcium or silica based. It seems that you could rinse it multiple times with fresh water and probably be ok. It just pains me to pay a $1.00 a pound for dry sand. Especially when I need 100 - 150 lbs. I know that the play sand in the state is silica. And its not quite worth a drive to Virginia (where I here you can get Caribbean stuff). And just so I don't miss the oblivious .... anybody know where I can save on suitable sand?.

100-150 ? and no one will notice ??

wash in fresh water ? -- why kill all the life that way ??
I have seen local sand that was loaded with pods and tiny serpent stars.... and I'm sure much else I could not see.

fresh water will nuke that stuff and ruin half the reason for getting it IMHO.

but don't know what legal problems you might have....
I know folks pay to have sand brought in... they just mite get angry with you :rolleyes:
and if it's a public area does Fish and Game have any say ?
 
Rinsing with FW with kill off the beneficial bacteria and other life, but that's the least of your worries. Sates, cities and counties spend big bucks replenishing their beaches and will not take too kindly to having you truck off 150 lbs of their sand. If the beach happens to be in a protected area, your legal troubles will be even greater.

Assuming you sneak the sand out a bucket at a time or happen to back your truck up on some dark and moonless night, you then need to worry about pollutants and most of them will not wash out with a simple FW rinse. These would include oils and industrial chemicals. Do a Google search on beach pollution and I think you will see that this is not a good idea.

You'll save far more money (and headaches) in the long run by taking your time, making educated purchases and getting the best quality products you can afford when you make purchases and this applies to everything you buy for your tanks. You migt have to put off a purchase or two while you save up the money, but you'll only have to make the purchase one time this way. Take some of the money you will save following tis advice and put it toward some good, aragonite based sand.

BTW, the aragonite sand from Southdown is no longer available even in Virginia.
 
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