Using sand from Monterey Bay

[jkreefer]

Has anyone ever used sand they got from the beach locally. I picked up about 3-4 gallons of almost white sand from Monterey and was just wondering if i can use it in a new tank i am setting up, or what i needed to do so that i can use it. Any help is appriciated.


Jeff

 

[650-IS350]

People don't use that because of pollution since its too close to civilization... which is why most sand purchased I belived is collected miles from beaches. Same with water.

The sand could be tainted...

 

[jkreefer]

Would it be able to be cleaned or bleached or baked to make it not tainted. Or is this just a bad idea all together?

 

[dodgersfan25]

most times i would strongly say no, but this may be diff b/c its monterey bay sand (which is very clean and environmental). you prob could use it but need to clean it a bit just to be safe

 

[sfsuphysics]

bleaching it won't have any affect on pollution of a non-bacterial nature, not sure baking it will do anything either.

Monterey sand also has a considerable amount of felspar in it as well, I think this is the reason why its so white, however I'm unsure what sort of chemical issue this will be in a tank environment.

 

[650-IS350]

Just be safe and get reefsand from either other reefers or online/lfs.