Live Sand???

[cichlid101]

Is it possible to go to the nearby beach and scoop up some sand from the ocean and use in your tank?
Just curious....

 

[shanev]

Usually a bad idea, almost certainly polluted.

 

[cichlid101]

is there no way to clean it even when going through a cycle?

 

[shanev]

Its usually not worth it for a cost savings. You dont have to use all live sand to start, you can use regular sand and seed it with live sand. IMO Id rather be safe than sorry.

 

[jillian ayers]

Agreed, you don't know what people have done in that sand.

 

[shanev]

I dont even want to talk about the cig butts, candy wrappers,etc I found last time I tried to make a sand castle with my son

 

[jillian ayers]

Don't forget about the beer bottles, empty soda cans, and little pieces of paper everywhere... Amazing how some people treat our earth.

 

[hurricanedrift]

Good live sand comes from reef fringing areas or at least well offshore in TROPICAL waters. The biodiversity that makes the sand so desirable is just not found in commom beach sand. I live only 3 blocks from the ocean in north Florida. To get my sand I drove to Tampa Bay Saltwater because the local beach sand would not give the same results. I lived for many years in Miami and actually did set up a few tanks with sand from Miami Beach. While it actually looked quite nice it had none of the organisms that good live sand will come with.

 

[dacia]

I think the best thing to do is fill your tank with Southdown from Home Depot or Lowe's. It is beach sand without all the crap that vacationers leave in it.
After the cycle is completed in your tank, you can add some live sand. It doesn't take a lot of LS to make all that Southdown live! And it is much cheaper doing it this way, and it saves all the frustrations of fighting with pollution from the beach.

 

[kissiefish]

If you live by me you wouldn't want to touch the sand.....let alone smell it......
~kissiefish~

 

[cichlid101]

very funny ~kissiefish~ Thanks for the advice and knowledge folks. I will go to Home Depot and buy some sand and try to get of as much CC that I have in the tank. Have a great Holiday!

 

[cindyski]

i live in fla and had the same question, i have researched this topic allot via these boards, phone calls and books. if you want to get sand from the OCEAN you are supposed to take a boat a few miles and scoop it (diver or big bucket with long rope ). that way there will be no "tourist debris" so to speak. i am still in the planning stages, but, i dont have a boat so i will be buying the sand oh btw, same goes with the water if you are adventurous enough for that, but i still dont know if i would trust it just because of pollution from boats and stuff imo

 

[psychoskater]

It depends on where the beach is. Where I live it is just sand. In the keys and miami its crushed coral. Just sand will be dirty and make the tank cloudy for like a week. I dont see how it would benifit your tank.

 

[cindyski]

psycho
the west coast & the east coasts of fla have different sand (gulf of mexico, carribean & atlantic ocean northern fla sand is also different than southern fla sand (starts cc ends up sand) but, the sand directly off any beach is going to be contaminated

 

[psychoskater]

Yes I know, I live on the Gulf Coast and Ive been on the east coast and made very frequent trips to the keys. The sand in the keys is ok because there isnt very many beaches and where here are it leads straight to sea grasses and reefs and people dont go on them to soak up the sun and litter