I am from the UK and as far as i am aware "southdown "sand is unavailable.I have costed sand from purearagonite and the oversea shipping is ridiculous.Can i use normal playsand from my local diy store?If not are there any other types of sand i can use?Would it be safe to use sand from the local beach if i boiled it first?
Playsand???
- Thread starter ClownieandBilly
- Start date
You can use any small grained sand with no worries. I wouldn't recommend using local beach sand (and boiling it would be a pain) due to contaminants and the odds of introducing something nasty.
We have medium grade silica sand in all our tanks, and they're doing lovely.
We have medium grade silica sand in all our tanks, and they're doing lovely.
Silica won't leach out unless the pH drops well below any normal level for any aquarium--around 3-4. At that point, the water would also be etching the glass in the tank (glass is silica, after all) and free silica-induced algae would be the least of your worries.
I'm also using silica (sandblasting) sand in all my saltwater tanks and I've never had any problems. It's pure white and looks great. I think it's "125 grain".