using play sand in a reef tank?

[george albert]

hi
just wanted to know if i can use play sand in my rebuild or would it affect the fish or corals in anyway.
Im talking about the play sand at walmart,then getting a bag of live sand to seed it.
thanks in advance
george

 

[3dblake]

I found a couple articles about it:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html

I'm still learning too...so it might be best to wait for someone else to chime in as well...

 

[mike68]

George, i used play sand in my tanks for a long time at first. The only problem i noticed was an increase in diatoms. It was never really bad, but never completely went away until i switched to argonite sand.

 

[ade]

Yes play sand is loaded full of silicates, IMO not worth the money you save on getting that for a substrate.

 

[george albert]

thanks alot for the info everyone

 

[tecsavi]

Years ago there use to be a playsand that was aragonite based and sold for like $3 a bag. I used it for a 4" deep sandbed in my tank and it worked great. I recently went searching for the same sand and it appears that it is no longer available. Believe me, I have checked within a 100 mile radius of Winchester and no luck.

It looks like we just have to shell out the big bucks for aragonite sand now. The best you can do is buy the cheaper dry sand and seed it with some sand from your friends establish tanks. It really doesn't take long to have your sand teeming with life.

 

[eengmd]

Years ago there use to be a playsand that was aragonite based and sold for like $3 a bag. I used it for a 4" deep sandbed in my tank and it worked great. I recently went searching for the same sand and it appears that it is no longer available. Believe me, I have checked within a 100 mile radius of Winchester and no luck.

It looks like we just have to shell out the big bucks for aragonite sand now. The best you can do is buy the cheaper dry sand and seed it with some sand from your friends establish tanks. It really doesn't take long to have your sand teeming with life.

I believe it used to be called southdown sand.