strange sand question

jshann7277

jshann7277

New Member
I recently added 100lbs of "live sand" to my newly started up 125, (almost cycled through). its the black sand from CS. Very attractive,by the way. anyway I was cleaning some light algea from the front of the glass toward the bottom when I heard a scraping noise. of course I stopped immediatedly to check the surfaces of my mag float scrubber. apparently I had stirred some sand from the bottom, and the magnet had attracted some granuals, lots of them! I scrubbed the scrubber side of the magnet outside of the tank, got some sand in the palm of my hand, and again the magnet attracted the "sand". didn't press on the magnet at all. not fun at all to get out of the scrubber. my question is what are the affects of this ferrous material to my tank/future inhabitants? been reading, reading, and reading more, don't want to mess anything up at this point in the setup.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by jshann7277 http:///t/397145/strange-sand-question#post_3538791
I recently added 100lbs of "live sand" to my newly started up 125, (almost cycled through). its the black sand from CS. Very attractive,by the way. anyway I was cleaning some light algea from the front of the glass toward the bottom when I heard a scraping noise. of course I stopped immediatedly to check the surfaces of my mag float scrubber. apparently I had stirred some sand from the bottom, and the magnet had attracted some granuals, lots of them! I scrubbed the scrubber side of the magnet outside of the tank, got some sand in the palm of my hand, and again the magnet attracted the "sand". didn't press on the magnet at all. not fun at all to get out of the scrubber. my question is what are the affects of this ferrous material to my tank/future inhabitants? been reading, reading, and reading more, don't want to mess anything up at this point in the setup.


Hi,

Years ago somebody else posted about this very thing...we were all certain the sand had metal in it or the magnet wouldn't attract it. We were wrong and the sand is safe to use. However it is a pain in the butt if the mag float attracts the sand and it gets trapped up in it scratching the tank all up.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
The tension that the mag float creates can cause the sand to attract to it. its best not to get the float near the sand so it wont pick up the sand. until it gets seeded completely with bacteria it will be easy to transfer it to the mag float. also the mag float padding will pick up the sand if it just brushes any sand even white sand.

pre-baged live sand which I assume that you got does have bacteria in but since its not open to new nutrients it can die off so it is not as ladden as sand from another tank. This is mostly just my opinion thru my experience though.

Mike
 
S

saxman

Guest
Use a hand scrubber to clean the bottom 3" - 4" of your tank. The ferrous materials in the sand should be bound as oxides, and shouldn't affect your water quality.

That being said, if you have 100% black sand, be prepared for it to show detritus very easily, so it tends to look "dirty" once your tank begins to mature. If you want a darker shade to your substrate, mixing in some white sand for a dark "salt-n-pepper" shade will alleviate this.
 
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