Local sand as live sand?

CaptnDan

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Oct 21, 2004
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Can I just go down to the beach and get my sand?

I don't imagine that the dry stuff would do me much good, but if I got submerged sand, would it work?

By the way, I am talking about sand from the Gulf of Mexico. We have nice white beaches and I think that sand would look good in a tank.
 
I do not believe that you want to do that because its not cured... You will get allot of stuff that will cause you more of a problem than its worth saving you money. (this is just what i have read, never actually tried it)
 
plus PCB has a harbor I believe there and places near harbors are not a wise place to put things in your aquarium
 
Ghost_knife said:
plus PCB has a harbor I believe there and places near harbors are not a wise place to put things in your aquarium

Definitely... the harbor on the PC side, and right across the bay is the Navy base on the PCB side. Thinking about that, I guess the collection of live rock locally is out of the question, since the most likely place to get it from happens to be located in a state park, plus it's the main inlet to the area you mentioned.

I was thinking of sand from farther down to the west, but then again, the prevailing current along the northern Gulf is westerly - so anything washed out by the tide would be carried to the areas I was thinking of as cleaner...

Oh well, a "local" tank would have been a nice idea. Maybe 40 years ago, it would have been feasible - before the environment got so bad. :sad:
 
I know the area well...the Naval yards use that grey paint that goes everywhere and the other harbor...well...boats tend to bilge things to the water they shouldnt...Sorry...which state park? St. marks or Alligator point?
 
You can't remove anything from state parks. If you want to collect sand or inhabitants you'd need to get out away from shore aways to get away from all the pollution thats going to be found along the shore. U nless you dive..buy it from a store.
 
Finaddictfred said:
You can't remove anything from state parks.

Right. That's why I said it would pretty much be out of the question. I could go farther down the beach, but there's nothing there but sand. Most of the northern Gulf of Mexico is like a desert. They consider a rock that sticks up 3 feet to be a reef. I'm more accustomed to something that rises from 1000 feet or more to within 25 ft of the surface.

There just isn't any real reef life around here. Bummer... Makes the diving pretty boring. Even the wrecks are stuff that's been placed there, for the most part.
 
I think I would just spend the $20. and not worry about it.
 
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