Switched to sand

[the___jest]

Today I changed out the substrate. I went from cc to sand. I looked high and low for the good stuff but turned up empty handed, so I went with the stuff from lowes Quickcrete. I have read every post on this site about sand and decided I was going to do the deal. I would like to hear your opinions (good or bad) about the decision I made. If I did make the wrong decision I love the look of the sand way better than the crushed coral. Please reply with your thoughts.

 

[wax32]

Isn't quickcrete a kind of ready to mix concrete?
Even if it is regular sand it is probably full of impurities that will not be good for your tank. Any fine grained sand from a pet store for use in saltwater tanks wouldn't been a better choice.
I hope it works out for you!

 

[the___jest]

I read tons of post on this site and talked to people here in town that used the same stuff seems to work for them so I thought what the heck. The only thing I could see when I tested was my ph was low, but I knew that would go down. I'm doing water checks daily to make sure I dont miss anything that could be bad.

 

[murph]

You should be fine. What do you mean by low PH?
Monitor ammonia for a few days to make sure its not on the rise. If it is take action of some sort. If you have a decent amount of Liver rock you probably wont even have to deal with that.
In fact I used the same sand in my fuge. No problems

 

[maeistero]

bad.
did you search quikcrete on the site at all? vinegar test it?
good luck, i'd take it out.

southdown is the ONLY available hardware store sand that will work long term use for saltwater applications.

 

[the___jest]

I have over 100lb live rock so I should be ok. The ph was 7.8 but it seems to flux a little in my tank I often have to use buffer. I did search this site there are people on here using the same sand I figured why not try it

 

[maeistero]

if you happen to still have the bags, can you post me the upc #? i'd like to research the sand further. i still don't think it'll work, but i like to back my opinions and other's thoughts with specific science.
:thinking:
hope it works out though, and it may be the next southdown if they've revised their composition.... who knows?
before trusting advice on message boards look at their join date and posts. granted there are a lot of new people that are very experienced, but there are even more that just joined and post 50+ times a day.
i think that your lr is buffering the sand right now. you might be running the risk on some of your lr getting die off with this sand though. i don't know, i'm just speculating and waiting on that upc!

 

[murph]

Once again; You should be fine as long as it is labeled as "Play Sand" and Quickcrete does make a play sand. These sands have to meet certain standards due to the fact that small children are apt to play in it. Hence the name "play sand"
Most are not argonite base which leads to the confusion that south down is the only suitable sand since it is argonite base. Vary little of the buffering capacity of your aquarium water comes from the substrate no matter what you are using. The sand you are using is most likely silicate sand, but once again you should be fine. The glass walls of your aquarium are made up predominantly of silicate.
Of more concern should be the PH level at 7.8. The use of buffers could in fact be part of the problem.
To address that problem I would consider looking into the overnight dripping of kalkwasser. Use the search function on this form and type in Kalk, kalk drip, etc for plenty of info and drip methods.
And yes on the live rock. I would still monitor ammonia levels next week just to be sure. The more likely scenario is that you get just a tad of a nitrite spike. Unless this starts getting vary high I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[psusocr1]

i use quickrete..my tank has been up for about 4-5 months or so now with 50 pounds of live rock, i have my lionfish in there, 2 stars, one damsel left that just wont get eatin! and im addign my shark tuesday.. Regardless ive never had ANY problems with this sand. its very white never had any problems with my levels etc.!! the only thing i hate that it is soo fine that it will blow around on you if you have powerheads or bottom dwellers in the tank. other than that i love the stuff

 

[the___jest]

I will get the upc posted a little later tonight, right now I'm chillin in my shorts and the bags are outside really don't want to get dressed I'm going out in a while and will get it then. I did a ph check and it was ok the one last night might have been false or something. checked amonia...0 / nitrite...0 / nitrate...0 / ph...8.2 might be 8.0 not exactly same color as test gauge color. I hope this all stays the same, I will pose and let you guys know.

 

[hot883]

When I start up my 125, I am going to use several bags of the play sand and then add 1-2 bags of livesand plus some from my 55. I have looked at the Lowes sand several times though. "Quickcrete" is the company name and as long as it is laBELED AS PLAY SAND THEN YOU SHOULD BE FINE.

 

[the___jest]

upc# is 396451135

 

[murph]

That PH sounds better and glad to see things are going good. Weekly ten percent water changes from here should keep those readings pretty solid.

 

[the___jest]

Checked levels all good

 

[psusocr1]

im tellin ya everyone is afrraid to use it but i used 300 pounds of it and im real happy with it...

 

[the___jest]

I think it will be alright, I might be wrong though. Only time will tell right.

 

[psusocr1]

jest,,
i will warn you of one thing.. MAKE SURE you situate your flow in your tank so that nothign swirls, or two powerheads dont meet in the middle and push water downward.. this sand is ULTRAFINE!! and at the slightest it will blow around..after about 3 months my sand started ot settle down nice, but still in all when my ray buries himself he will still kick up a cloud that takes about 5 minutes to clear,,,still GREAT STUFF IMHO and id unno how much you are using but i only washed about 100 pounds out of the 250 pounds i used of it and i regretted that!!
hope i helped ya out!!

 

[aceroc]

I used about 100lbs of Quickcrete Commercial fine sand in my tank and it's been up for 6 months and i have the same fish from day one and some corals from day one and everything is fine. It does no buffering but is alot better than CC.

 

[the___jest]

I have not had any problems with cloudyness yet. Checked levels yesterday and today everything the same, I am happy.

 

[psusocr1]

good to hear!! wow i guess im the only one with the cloudiness problems..maybe caus eim just missing osmehtign like where the hell to put my close loop! now ontop of it my stingray makes amess of my sand!!!!