sand sand sand!!!

[sandiegan]

Hey everyone....I know that there are a lot of sands that you should NOT use in your tank.....so just out of curiosity (and the hope of saving money) is it ok to take some sand from my local beach, then add some LS on top of it?Sounds like a possible alternative to finding some of that TPS or buying 30lb bags from my LFS. Please help...really would like to know

 

[gun freak]

A big fat :nope: ...
You can get BAD stuff from the sand or toxic crap from the stuff .....that's not safe for your fish
just go to the pet shop and get some sand !!! better safe then sorry ...:yes:

 

[arkey.d]

Or buy PlaySand for about $6 for a 50lb bag and then add LiveSand on top of the PlaySand.

 

[thomas712]

You should be looking for aragonite playsand, it is calcium carbonate based. Mainly the cheap ones that we look for are Old Castle, Yardright or Southdown playsands.
You can use some silica playsands but many are not happy with the color or preformance of it.
Thomas

 

[stuckinfla]

The only sand my local Home Depot sells is QUIKRITE play sand. It states that its cleaned screened & dried. I look at it a hundred times, and wont buy it because 1) Does not say what kind of sand.
2) From the same company that make cement mixes.
Be careful what you buy, this is the most beautiful sand, but you never know.

 

[guitarded]

i paddled my ocean kayak out 2 miles and got some sand to seed my arag sand and everything worked out great!

 

[jenn-e]

The quickcrete sand is silica based. This doesn't mean it leaches silicates into your water tho. It is what i have, it is reef safe. I am not reccomending it tho, because i wish i could have found southdown too. But i'm not really having problems with it either.

 

[sandiegan]

i know that Yardright and southdown are the preferred playsands, but cant find any around here. Anyone know of any mailorder (online) places where I can either get those kinds or similar (with similar prices ie. not $20 for a 15lb bag). Also heard that Southdown is going out of business? just thought i read that somewhere

 

[cowfishrule]

the home depot by my has 2 pallets of the stuff

 

[sandiegan]

great news, except for that small distance between me and there called the U.S.A. :notsure: heh I'll just keep looking. merry xmas everyone

 

[guitarded]

i was in a similar position as a lot of people who don't live in the northeast. our home depot does not carry arag playsand. however, one day i was in a local hardware store and they had bags for "coral sand" that is sold of mixing concrete. it looked like the stuff from the ocean and it was on sale for $3/50lb bag. so i bought one bag and did the vinegar test. if fizzled right up. so i went back and bought another 3 bags. i wanted to abide by our local laws that prohibit us from harvesting large amounts of sand. not to mention that i would have to paddle my kayak a couple miles out and dive down and pull up about 200lbs of sand. i did, however, paddle out and get a handful of sand (about enough for a ziplock bag) to seed my sand. it worked out great!

 

[sandiegan]

sorry to be ignorant, but what's the vinegar test? thanks =)

 

[thomas712]

Take a sample of your sand and test some of the sand with vinegar. If it bubbles/dissolves, it is calcium carbonate sand and should be safe to use.
Take some sand and pass a magnet over it or in it, it might come out with little metal shavings from processing, if it does I would not use it. Though I have heard of some who have with little poor effects. Iron can actually be a fertilizer for macro algae.

 

[nitram]

oldcastle has bought out southdown playsand and it is now called either oldcastle or yardright tropical playsand. on the bag it says that it is not to be used for aquarums but you can use it for aquariums. It is because some other big sand commpany that sales aquarium sand sales it for a bigger price so when southdown started using the same sand for yards for cheaper, they made a agrement to not sale to people looking to put it into aquariums. But the little guys like us found out you could use it and so there you have it, dont take this as the gospel but as hear say because that is how I heard it. It is still almost impossible to find. I need about 300lbs and cant seem to find it anywheres in the Tennessee area, any suggestions?