easy sand question

hawk70

hawk70

New Member
At my local Home Depot they sell play sand for dirt cheap. I wanted to use it to put about 2" on the bottom of my tank and then put about 1" live sand on top of that. The play sand at Home Depot does not say if it is synthetic or not and none of the employees seem to know. If it is synthetic would this pose any problems? From what I understand is that the bottom layer of sand is dead anyway due to a lack of oxygen. I would hate to have to buy enough live sand to make a 3" sand bed if the bottom 2" die off anyway. Also it would cost $$$ for all live sand. Anybody have any input on this? Thx:)
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
You can use dead sand in your tank, many people do including me. I fell for the 'live sand' bit on my first tank and believe me it was a waste of money. Any clean sand will make a good bed and will become live sand during your initial cycle. The best dead sand for you DSB is supposedly SouthDown. I'm currently cycling a 92 gal with it so my experience is limited. I've had excellent success with silica sand blasting sand in my 46 bow. It is going on two years now with tons of life and no issues. My first tank was all store bought live sand, which also did an excellent though expensive job.
Whatever sand you go with you will need to nuture the fauna that maintain it for you.
You have been misinformed on the issue of the bottom layer being dead due to lack of oxygen. Anaerobic areas of the bed foster the bacteria that completes the nitrogen cycle (Nitrates to Nitrogen gas). These areas are the reason folks choose to go with a deep bed. You do not need to worry about this if you're only going with a 3" bed.
Goodluck.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
the play sand that HD sells (not southdown) is very dark sand more like a sandbox sand color I had a lot of it in my tank and it really looks like crap to me. a very dark brown. I would try to find am argonite sand like what LFS carry or if you can get southdown. I can about gurantee you wont like the brown sand.
Plus I cant prove it but I think that was my problem with never ending hair algae no matter what I did couldnt get rid of it.
Mike
 
escape2thewater

escape2thewater

Active Member

Originally posted by escape2thewater
Yea I tried that "PREMIUM PLAYSAND"
...sorry, from HD. It looks great when its dry but as MichaeTX said, it does turn much darker brown after its underwater. I looked into it, but ended up biting the bullet and buying a crapload of arragonite. Just my opinion, but I think you will agree, just go to HD and find a bag of it that has a hole in it. Then "Sample" some of it and bring home to submerge under water. It will look like mud!
Kyle
:)
 
perryfish

perryfish

Member
went to HD just yesterday. I got to types of sand. The white Play Sand at a grain size of 40, and I got the Orange County Sand at a grain size of 20. I sift through it to keep anything that wasnt sand out of the tank. After it was mixxed it looked very nice inside the tank. Only payed 12.37 for 150 Lbs of sand compared to the LS cost of 44.99 for a 40lbs of sand at ***** or Petsmart.
 
bullshark

bullshark

Member
There is two different types of sandbox/playsand at HD or Lowes. I got the white sandbox sand. It mixes perfectly with the LS that I bought from SWF.com
It even says right on it: Not for traction, Not for aquariums.(VERY dusty)
I chose to give it a try. Works for me!
 
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