Is there such a thing as dead sand??

[blazzein]

Hi there,
I was wondering--since I am starting a new reef tank--what live sand is? I live in the Seattle area, can I just go to the water and get some sand? I am also a diver, so I wonder can I use the sand on the beach or should I get my sand while diving?? thanks for all of your responses!!!!!

 

[thomas712]

Welcome to the board
Dry sand is what we consider dead, due to the fact that there is no bacteria yet.
Live sand is that which has been though the cycle and has the bacterias which we desire in our aquarium.
Would I get it from a beach, no way, to many bad nasty pollutents on a beach.
would I get it from just off of the beach in the water, not me.
Farther out off the beach say 500 feet, maybe.
Also might want to check local laws regarding such things.
I do like my aragonite sand substrate, bright white, fine particles, looks great.
Thomas

 

[oregonbud]

I would second Thomas's post about the sand. I considered it as well (I live near the Oregon coast) and decided that the pollution factor is too risky.
As an ex puget sound resident and diver, I would not put anything in my tank from the sound, although the majority of my diving in the sound was closer to Tacoma then Seattle, due to the amount of pollution in the water there. In all honesty it would be just as easy to use playsand, then buy a bag of live sand to seed the sand bed with.

 

[col]

As an ex puget sound resident and diver
Hey oregon, another music one for yer.
What is puget sound? Ian Gillan wrote a song called puget sound on one of his Gillan albums.

 

[oregonbud]

Col - I am absolutely amazed at the variety of music you must listen to to keep picking up on these things
The Puget Sound is the bay (for lack of a better word - who really knows the difference between a bay and sound??) that basically runs from Port Angeles, Washington to Olympia Washington. It is a very diverse marine ecosystem, and extremely beautiful. Thousands of islands dot the sound, some are private islands, the larger ones like Orcas and Vashon have year round residents that usually take the ferry's into Seattle or Tacoma. On that same note it makes for some awesome wreck diving because of the varied underwater terrain and changing water levels, old wreck sites can be found pretty easily. The only bad thing about the area is the tremendous amount of shipping traffic, especially between Tacoma and Seattle, makes it pretty heavily polluted.
Speaking of the Puget Sound and bands, on the Ruston Way waterfront in Tacoma they have a garden called the "Soundgarden", and I'll give you three guesses as to what Seattle area band adopted that name
OB

 

[blazzein]

Thanks for all of the wonderful advice, although I really wanted to hear that it would be ok to use the sand off of the beach (hee hee). I want to really have my tank succeed!!
Sami

 

[col]

Hey OB
Thanks for the info, Gillan is definitley singing about a bus ride on this one. He had probably been on the suace when he wrote the song though!!!
Col - I am absolutely amazed at the variety of music you must listen to to keep picking up on these things
Good day out coming soon:
Red Hot Chilli peppers
Foo Fighters
Queens of the stone age

 

[oregonbud]

Strange - there used to be a Puget Sound Coach line up there, that is a bus It tours the shoreline of the sound which is a pretty long drive. Maybe that is what he was referring to

 

[col]

OB
That will be it - the coach line.
The first line of the song was "I remember the bus, just the Greyhound and us, it was inbetween (somwhere) and TaComa....).
How's that for memory????