Is My Live Sand Too Live?

blesum

blesum

Member
First of all, I'm setting up a tank that reflects the local marine life in San Diego.
Today I headed down to the Scripps Pier in La Jolla for my salt water, and the beach there for my live sand. It was low tide and I got my sand in ankle-deep water, but it was FULL of clams -They were a pretty lively bunch. Most of them about 1/4 to 3/4 inches across. I did pull one up that was 3 inches across. Probably 10 clams in each handful of sand.
Bad idea or good idea for use in starting up a tank?
The buckets are sitting in my truck right now, I decided to ask here first before I dumped it in the tank.
If bad idea, can I just strain out the clams and use the sand or do I need to discard the whole thing and try again in a different place or at a different tide?
Thanks,
Blesum
 
fishntx

fishntx

Member
the problem with collecting sand from the beach is the possibility for parasites and sand that is polluted by sunscreens, lotion,etc. i dont think the clams will hurt anything.jmo
 
smoney

smoney

Active Member
Actually if you are too use all that stuff, I would just put things that you collect from the beach to put in your tank. I wouldnt use that stuff if you are keeping the fish and corals that they have at the lfs. The reason being, the water is probably really bad if it is like right close to the beach because of all the the litter and stuff like that.
 
froznfinn

froznfinn

Member
This is a question asked over and over again..it's a very good question..I'm not sure I'd be concerned with suntan lotion etc but envoirnmental problems like petro ,and runoffs from other water sources..is a different story..It sounds like an interesting sample of
live sand and maybe worth an experiment aside ..The clams certainly are doing well and if you were to try this I would want to make sure your water circulation etc..mimicks the areas were you picked-up the sand..Good luck..but I think I would avoid adding other livestock except hermits ands snails for a while .. :thinking:
 
blesum

blesum

Member
I don't have my circulation figured out/set up yet. I guess the best thing to do will not be to put the sand in the tank and try for sand with zero visible animals. I will also get sand further down the beach next time since there's a runoff drain near where I was collecting sand yesterday afternoon and I've smelled some pretty foul crap come out of there in the past.
-Blesum
 
blesum

blesum

Member
BTW I will not be using any animals brought at a LFS, nor will I be releasing animals back into the wild after they have been in my tank since it apparently is illegal (and possibly dangerous) to do so according to the department of game and fish.
-Blesum
 
sfe

sfe

Member
I would never use that sand in a tank. It has all types of pathogens and parasites in it.
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
NOthing wrong with yur idea, after all your doing a tank with everything local toyour area. We idd it every year with locally found critters, water and sand when we lived on the gulf coast and sometimes it turned out fantastic other times no so well but interesting just the same.......
 
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