Aragonite Sand

[rebels23]

Hi Everyone,
I had a quick question. I was just about to purchase my sand for my saltwater tank, and I came across this Carib Sea White Marine sand. It looks great!!!! I love the white color. But then I was told that it is just "beach sand" and will do nothing for buffering my water. Is this true? If it is true, than I guess I will need to get some type of sand that is Aragonite based (i.e. Carib Sea Reef Sand????).
If Aragonite sand buffers the water, how much does it buffer it by? How much will it raise the PH to from 7? Thanks.
Rebels23

 

[bang guy]

It will buffer very very slightly, and it will raise Ca very very slightly if you have a fully functioning DSB.
To ponder a guess I would say it buffers about the same as 1/50th of a dose of commercial buffer. Nearly insignificant.
That said, I would only use Oolithic aragonite sand. Not saying there is anything wrong with anything else... that's just me.

 

[rebels23]

Thanks Bang Guy!
Hmmmm, if it only raises it slightly, I might as well just get the white marine sand and use a chemical buffer? That's weird, the guy at the fish store told me the Aragonite sand would raise my PH to 8.
Speaking of which, what type of chemical buffers are recommended? I was looking at SeaChem's Marine Buffer. Would that suffice? Thanks.
Rebels23

 

[bang guy]

I prefer to use Limewater.