Beach Sand

thoap

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Apr 23, 2004
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Honolulu, Hawaii
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Living here in Hawaii, we have some beautiful clean beaches for the most part. Is it possible to use either the sand directly from the beach or possible slightly offshore. If not, where does the companys like Oldcasltle or Sothdown get theirs. Here, the only thing that we can get from Home Depot and the like for play sand is coral sand. No aragonite. And it just doesn't seem fine enough. Thanks.
 
From what i understand.. that'd be illegal.

Southdown comes from the Carabiean, not sure exactly what part. Its amazing stuff though.

Sandblasting sand will the right color/grain, but won't have any of the buffering properties. If you're not trying to make a DSB, that, i think, would be fine.

Best,
Evan
 
Hopefully Dale will pop in and clarify the legal question about collecting in Hawaii. For some reason, I think I remember him saying it was okay...not sure though.

Either way, I can confirm that silica based sandblasting sand will work just fine. I've had it in my tank for over two years with no problems. You can get it in just about any grain size you want and it should be easy to find in bright white.
 
Thoap, Howzit?

Yes you can collect sand up to a one gallon bucket per day. Just make sure you go to a good clean beach. When I collect it, igo knee deep at low tide and skim the surface down to about 2 ". There are other things that you can do as well if you are interested. What are you setting up?
 
Hi Reefscape

I'm new to saltwater, but I've been into African cichlids for a long time. (trying something new). I'm setting up a 180 with a DSb. Only problem (as you probably know) can't get Oldcastle or Southdown here and I was thinking of going to some of the beaches with vinegar in hand to see if I could find some aragonite sand at one of the beaches. I've heard that some of our black sand has aragonite mixed with it. Have you heard anything about this? That plus getting some live sand interests me a bit. I didn't want to do anything illegal or contribute to messing up our beaches though, so thanks for letting me know about the sand thing. Aloha.
 
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