Sand

[F550dieseldriver]

I currently have medium gravel substrate in my tank, and i want sand. I ordered 60 LBS of white carribean live sand for about $40. But today i got an idea today that made me think:

I live near water. Could i use beach sand for my tank? I figure it's probably the same kinda stuff they use of you buy it online or something. but i dunno for sure.

seems like a cheap alternative. Anything i should know about this? i don't wanna do it without knowing how or what i should be concerned about.

Thanks

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would stick with the live sand. It is argotine based and not silicon based like many of the beach sands. Also, you dont want to introduce any sort of chemicals that might be at your beach such as oil from boats. Most of the live sand is collected miles of the coast and arent effected by this.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Also, there are usually state regulations about taking things from the ocean. Wouldnt want you to get in trouble for doing so. You would have to check out your local laws.

 

[Bifferwine]

I wouldn't take sand from the coast of Maryland to put in my tank! It's so polluted on the east coast up there!

 

[F550dieseldriver]

ok :) thanks ya'll.

next...now that i've started to put the sand in, i assume the water will get cloudy for a while. Is there a secret to not having cloudy water when putting in new sand?

 

[Bifferwine]

Not really... You can avoid pouring water directly on the sand by putting a dinner plate on the bottom of the tank and pouring the water on the plate. You just have to wait til it clears up.

 

[F550dieseldriver]

is turning on the filters and pump a bad idea when it's cloudy? it's not really sand floating around, i think it's just the leftover dust that didn't get washed off the sand...

 

[Bifferwine]

Turning on the filters will help clear it up faster. It will get some of the particulates out of the water.

 

[Rufio808]

If someone has gravel as a substrate could you pour live sand on top of it if you wanted? My friend has gravel but wants sand now.

 

[Bifferwine]

You can put sand on top of it, but since the sand is a smaller particle, it will just sink to the bottom, and the gravel will be on top again. It's better to remove the gravel.

 

[Rufio808]

Lol poor guy will have to take out all that gravel then. Thanks!

 

[bjohanson1234]

it is best to do that in sections also, not all at once. it gives the new sand a chance to become live instead of just shocking the whole system.

 

[sen5241b]

I live near the same beach Rehoboth DE and Ocean City MD and that sand would not be that great --its not aragonite.

 

[F550dieseldriver]

I was very surprised at how quickly i got my water to settle. I changed from gravel to sand, all at once, after washing the sand in buckets multiple times. When I noticed the water wasn't clearing up on it's own, I started to siphon it out and do water changes in about 2.5 gallon increments, with the filter running, and my fishnet providing a break to keep the waterflow from stirring the sand.

After (3) 2.5 gallon water changes and the above conditions, the water was clear in about an hour. Added my NutraFin Cycle, some StressCoat and my other chems as directed and was good to go :)

The tank is restocked and better looking than ever! :D

 

[Rufio808]

Niiiiice! I told my friend sand looked better, but noooooo.