Real beach sand

[hartman413]

ok i dunno know if you all condone this or not but i decided that in stead of buying the 50+ lb of live sand to put into my tank i went with 20 lb of live sand and went to the beach and got about 30 lb of beach sand. and i have to say my cycle went normal no serious spikes or anything of that nature. so fat the only problem i am seeing it is seems that my snails are having a hard time getting across it i am not sure why or maybe they are just enjoying eating any bacteria that was there :notsure:

 

[saltn00b]

beach sand probably has a lot of impurities or pollutants in it, as well as organisms that may be harmful to your future tank inhabitants. if it was all the dry sand then it likely will have zero corraline / beneficial bacteria in it, but could have a lot of harmful bacteria in it. just a gamble if you ask me. You would be better off going diving and scooping up some ocean sand

 

[michaeltx]

on most places its illegal to harvest stuff of the beach inluding the sand. its not the best sand to use either cause of what was mentioned above plus as stated in another thread about the same topic that some places bring in play or silica based sand to help with errosion. silica in a closed system will cause algae blooms and other complications so be prepared to battle that also.
Mike

 

[f14peter]

I'm with Michael and Salt . . . sure, beach sand varies greatly, but I don't think I would put any in my tank.
The northern California beach I vacation at every summer has what looks to me to be pretty raunchy sand . . . dog poo/urine, trash, the occasional dead seagull, a lot of dead/decaying seaweed, and old driftwood. Pile on top of that a lot of fishingboat traffic, doesn't look appealing at all.
Unless the beach is lightly populated/visited by humankind, there's little/no offshore activity, nor any large cities and/or industry nearby, seems like it's best to avoid it.
Maybe I'd grab some sand from Makalewena Beach on the Big Island, but besides probably being illegal, logistically impossible to bring back to the mainland, I'd be risking the ire of Madam Pele . . . not a good thing!

 

[hartman413]

wow almost feel flamed.. not really i guess just like anything else u win some u lose some.. my buddy filled hisentire 100 gallon with beach/ ocean sand. (itook mine from abot 20 feet of water). and then used about 40 pounds of l;ive sand and his tank is flourishing.... now we also washed our sand with a water/vinegar mix. i am not using it as my only source of sand just a filler so i am not going broke buying sand and in fl. harvesting is remove more than 200 pounds of sand @ one time from the beach.

 

[saltn00b]

well if you took it from 20' of water its not so bad but you do still risk bringing in some critter that could lie in wait and then feast on all of your expensive live stock additions.... but perhaps if you are 'sterilyzing' it with vinegar you may have solved that, but i cant say.

 

[oreo12]

I have a layer of crushed shells on top of my sand these crushed shells came off mertyl beach in the tide no trouble washed them in salt water and layed them on top of the sand

 

[windmill]

I did the same thing a while back with my first tank.
Took a vacation down to mexico and filled up a 35 some-odd-gallon cooler with sand, rock, snails, crabs, cucumbers, and starfish. Nothing catastophic happened (I type that because I was a bit young and not all that educated in the saltwater art, so something not good could have been happening without my knowledge). But then I bought a snowflake moray. Like I said, young and dumb.

 

[1journeyman]

Well, taking the sand from 20ft down definitely is better than the "beach".
Is the sand Aragonite?

 

[chipmaker]

I use it all the time as do lots of others I know and no one here has ever had a problem with any thing associated from sand acquired off the beach or in knee deep water...Use it. As for silicates, the silica in sand is not the same thing as what causes algae blooms.......It would take some serious water paramters to make silica dissolve out of silica based sands. Moving accross the sand be it collected from the beachj or poured out of a bag should not be any problem for nay invert. Odds are they are feeding off nutreints etc the sand contains.

 

[oreo12]

There again it is the could ofs. Do you know where the sand you buy comes from? It could be bad. Look at the spinach. Yes some bad stuff could be on beach sand but some bad stuff could be in them home depot bags and lfs bags as well

 

[pohtr]

Maybe some of the fun is the thrill of the unknown.
I have a qt tank (never used for qt) which has become an experiment tank. It has some added beach coral rubble & stuff that I just had to put in there....That tank is lots of fun to watch. There are no fish in it but it teams with life. Mostly tiny life, but I never know what I'll see next.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by chipmaker
. As for silicates, the silica in sand is not the same thing as what causes algae blooms........
I'm pretty sure that's incorrect Chip.

 

[chipmaker]

There is a difference in silicates and silica. Silica is what is found in lots of sand and is like fine granuals of quartz. Silcates is an entire different animal. Silicates is what is commonly ofund in lots of brands of antifreeze that oxidize and create an environment as it leeches out, and when exposed to air will cause corrosion and algaes to grow even in a closed container. Only real reason to even use aragonite sand instead of silica based type sand which is what most beach sand is really composed of is the aragonite sand helps with buffering the water somewhat, but its not as important as live rock. Either sand will support the same critters in it. ***** and other poaces sell 100% pure white sand that is pure silicate sand, and its dirt cheap......it does not promote algae any worse than aragonite that costs 6 times more $$.

 

[michaeltx]

The only thing that I had in my tank different was silca based sand and hair aglae went rampant to apoint a broke down my tank bleached the LR and started over. changed out the sand to argonite based sand and never had that porblem again. it might not cause a bloom but in my experience it does feed and fuel it.
Mike

 

[hartman413]

well wow i did't think this subject would take off. i will say so far no problems with using my "beach" sand. all parameters are great trates=0 trites=0 amo=0 ph=8.3 sg= 1.025.. so i will say so far the "beach sand" is doing fine... but your right there are alot of unknowns but hopefully i took a chance roll the dice and come up a winner

 

[scubaguy]

Keep us posted, I would love to know how things turn out.

 

[hartman413]

will do. the only reason i even decided to try this isbecuase several of my buddies have used real sand in their tanks. and they are flourishing.. and i think that is gives a very naturl look seeming how it is what they swim in soooo u know

 

[saltn00b]

normal LS that you might buy is natural as well, and natural looking. just from different locations.

 

[scubaguy]

I am down in your area every year scuba diving. That is why I have my Aquarium, I miss the ocean. Maybe this year I might go out and get some sand down about 40 to 50 foot range. Hope everything turns out.