reptile sand as substrate?

[Yoemen]

Just wondering if anyone knows if the sand they sell for terrariums is safe for aquariums. A store near me has some that is obsidian black and another that looks like the white sand you find on the beach down in Grand Cayman Islands.

I was thinking of using instead of the brownish/tanish play sand and filter sand I have used on other tanks, but want to know if it is safe first.

 

[wataugachicken]

reptile sand is no good unless you're keeping hard water species. it's all calcium carbonate sand and will slowly (or maybe not so slowly) dissolve away into the water, raising your ph and hardness. play sand, or quikrete commercial sand, etc. are good inert substrates that won't affect the water chemistry

on my 55 i just set up i used the Quikrete brand medium grade commercial sand, and it is very white. the texture is coarse but i like the look of it b/c it's not all identical.

 

[Daudzegier]

If you wash playground sand enough through an extreamly fine strainer, you will eventualy get all the dirt out of it and it will look almost white. Very nice color.