Play Sand or Live Sand?

[revfred]

I want a deep sand bed for my 55 gallon but to get 4 - 6 inches of live sand can get rather expensive. I hear on other threads those who reccomend getting sand from the hardware store. The tank that I'm setting up will be FOWLR and I'm using a Skilter 400.
Can I use play sand exclusively or at least use the play sand to get the desired depth and then layer that with live sand?
By the way, thanks for the advise that you've provided thus far. I'll post some pics asap.

 

[juddster]

yes you can use only playsand, it will eventually become alive! be careful however to get the right type of play sand, alot of people here use southdown playsand, i'm not sure if there are a few different types, i believe there are... just be sure to get the rite kind! good luck!!

 

[birdy]

You can just use all dry sand and If you add enough LR it will seed your sandbed eventually. I would recommend getting at least 25lbs of LS to seed the dry sandbed with it will just speed things up.
There are a lot of opinions about using playsand, If you can find southdown it is the best, it is aragonite based, just like the expensive stuff at the LFS. But I have used silica based sand for a tank and had no algae problems and I have read several articles stating that the silica in the sand does not release silica into the water anymore than the silica based glass your tank is made out of. It is a decision you will have to make.

 

[keltic]

Actually you should be careful with some "play" sands as a substrate. Most are silica sand which can lead to a large amount diatoms in the tank. Usually not a problem if you have plenty of cleaner critters.