where did you get your sand?

[salty420]

so im going to be need a whole heck of a lot more sand for my upgrade than i originally thought. here's my plan. i thought maybe i should scrape the top 1/2 inch or so of my current LS off to seed the new sand i get for the new tank and use the rest in my new refugium along with some new sand to make a nice DSB in there. so i'd be needing something like 80-100# or so of new sand for the display tank and 10# or so for the fuge. i was thinking about being cheap and using playsand but im not sure im willing to take that risk. after all im dumping so much cash into this upgrade i'd feel pretty dumb trying to save some $$ going with playsand and regretting it later. SO, it looks like it may actually be cheaper to by "live" sand off ebay then to by aragonite at my lfs (not my super cheap basement guy an actual store). does anyone have any advice for me? any store online i should check out? THANKS! kat

[clown-lover]

Marine Depot actually has some good prices on their sand even with shipping. I bought mine locally as my store sold the sugar aragonite because I didn't want to wait but I still paid like 20 bucks for 10 lbs. I do believe marine d is cheaper than that..

[salty420]

but then i see this http://cgi.ebay.com/30LB-NATURAL-WHITE-FIJI-LIVE-SAND-REFUGIUM-KIT_W0QQitemZ250211510196QQihZ015QQcategoryZ3212QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
on ebay and it's just so cheap!

[clown-lover]

yeah but it goes to 2 mm.. I personally use sugar which only goes to 1.2 um. This is the one I was talking about.. Same quanity and price.. But it is sugar sand.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~CS0930.html

[mandy21]

I went with 90 pounds from marine depot. I think shipping went up from when I bought it almost a year ago, but it's still a good price when compared with what I would pay in store.

[donk18]

i actually got my sand from that guy on ebay. it is good quality sand. i like it alot. he will send you 30lbs of sand, 2 snails, small chunck of cheato, and two small pieces of rock. it has turned out great in my tank.

[scootrnerd]

do not use play sand! it contains hi levels of silica and you will always have a diatom problem even after your cycle!

[salty420]

i actually got my sand from that guy on ebay. it is good quality sand. i like it alot. he will send you 30lbs of sand, 2 snails, small chunck of cheato, and two small pieces of rock. it has turned out great in my tank.

well thats good to know. i may get a burrowing goby in there so a little bit bigger grain would actually be what i want.


do not use play sand! it contains hi levels of silica and you will always have a diatom problem even after your cycle!

this is soooo highly debated tho. i've been doing some reading and finding research showing that this is not true. BUT, like i said, i really am not willing to take the risk.

[clown-lover]

well thats good to know. i may get a burrowing goby in there so a little bit bigger grain would actually be what i want.
You would be correct. You would want it larger so his bunkers don't cave in..



this is soooo highly debated tho. i've been doing some reading and finding research showing that this is not true. BUT, like i said, i really am not willing to take the risk.
you know I've read a lot about it as well.. Some people seem to have a ton of success and others just have problems all over the place. I might do a test with it on a smaller tank.

[scootrnerd]

well thats good to know. i may get a burrowing goby in there so a little bit bigger grain would actually be what i want.



this is soooo highly debated tho. i've been doing some reading and finding research showing that this is not true. BUT, like i said, i really am not willing to take the risk.

i cant speak for everyone. but i had my 33 set up as a sw for about a year with "play sand" and i always had diatom problems. it even says on the bag "contains high levels of silicates" but your choice just puttin in my 3 cent lol

[darkcirca]

I personally just bought it from the store, but I did try to order it from Premium Aquatics (it was 1/2 the price as the store actually). Sometimes ordering it is fine, but if the delivery people are horrible like they are here, I'd avoid it. My package got destroyed, and was never delivered, then UPS lied to me about the package being thrown away (was sent back to Premium Aquatics). It was a pain to deal with, which is the only reason why I ended up paying twice the price.

Some people will go will play sand, I don't like the look, but I wanted the indo-pacific black and white. So if you aren't picky, then you can go with cheaper options..

[salty420]

to clarify i am not going with play sand. the ebay guy says he guarantees delivery and the delivery ppl here are really good so im not too worried about that. and with the amnt of sand i'd be ordering (120#) i'd get a 10% discount so it's kinda looking better and better. would LS help by adding bacteria as well since i'll be doing a big 78g WC?

[scootrnerd]

are you moving stuff over from ur 37?

when i upgraded from my 33 to 55 i just bought "astablished water" from my lfs and just put the sand i had in the 33 in the mix with the new sand

[salty420]

yes im moving everything over. the plan is to put the majority of the old LS in the fuge and the top 1/2" or so of old sand into the new tank (so the icky old sand is in the fuge and nice pretty new sand in the display). i say i'll be adding 78g new water cause the 75g has a 40g sump. i could buy water but dang im spending soooo much money and most ppl are telling me i'll be ok to just add fresh mixed ro sw since i'll be adding my old 65# of LR to the 75g...

[scootrnerd]

yeah i guess that would be ok .only reason i did mine that way is because i didn't really want to cycle again

[salty420]

oh trust me i don't want to cycle again! im moving everything over - all livestock - including my nem, all corals, fish... i've been assured that i'll be ok, do you think i won't be? from what i've been told all the beneficial bacterial is on surfaces, not in the water column so the water isn't really the concern, which is why im wondering if the LS would actually help out a bit (over just aragonite). i am adding 32# of cured LR but im not worried about it starting a cycle, just to be sure i have it already in a garbage soaking with a heater and PH running on it.

[scootrnerd]

i didn't get what i would consider a cycle. but my parameters where out of whack for a few weeks. not nitrites or nitrates but my ph ca kh etc you should be good the way you are doing it.

[darkcirca]

I managed to upgrade from a 56 gallon to a 90 gallon w/ 20 gallon sump. I moved over all my old sand, added an additional 40lbs, and only took part of the water (I took all the rock though). I probably had about 30-40gl of water from the original tank, and I had to mix fresh water for that.

I was lucky and didn't have a new cycle, don't know how I got away with it, but I had no other option but to put everything in the tank (as my geckos were living in plastic tubs since the fish got their tank). We had company coming the next day and had to just throw everything together.

[salty420]

well that's good to hear darkcirca. hopefully i'll be as lucky!