Sand???

[CKreef]

I want to switch to sand. Where can i get sand? Dry would be nice and cheaper....right?

 

[CKreef]

anyone????

 

[gflat65]

Not a lot of places around here carry sand... You can find Araglive, but there isn't much else out there, unless you buy in small quantities. Southdown is the cheapest, but you can't get it in this part of the US. I think EBay sells some live sand from the Gulf (or used to). I used to buy 40# bags of oolitic sugar sized sand in Memphis, but that was almost a decade ago... Just check around the local stores and see if anyone has any aragonite sand. You can order it, but shipping is going to be a killer.

 

[CKreef]

so no cheap stuff anywhere why not play sand from lowes or hd???

 

[ct_vol]

I got my sand from HD... But you have to be careful to get the kind without Si... Otherwise you might as well throw a nuke in your tank...

 

[gflat65]

There are a number of people out there who have used silica based sands and say they've had no problems (aside from maybe cyano, but most young sandbeds go through something similar). I never have, so I can't speak on it, but I can say that with silica based sands, you won't get the buffer advantage of aragonite.

 

[CKreef]

how do you know what your getting?

 

[TitansFan]

the vinegar test. if it bubbles its good

 

[CKreef]

ok none of the ones i tried bubbled

 

[ct_vol]

lol I never tried the bubble test... Oh well... The silica is that clear stuff that makes the sand glitter... Glittering is bad... I agree with gflat about the buffering though... I used about 75% aragonite, though mine wasn't live sand... And only 25% play sand... But you can use someone elses live sand to seed yours, or just count on your live rock for slower results... I added the play sand more for my rainford gobie than anything else... The particles were finer and he could sift through them easier... Oh not to mention the cost difference!!!