Sand question

R

raoul

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Jan 7, 2004
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Kansas City, MO
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First of all, I'd like to say that I really appreciate all of the great advice that I've gotten from "lurking" on this discussion board for the past few days. I'm preparing to start up a tank after many years away from the hobby, and I've gained a lot of information from all of you. Here is my first (and I'm sure it won't be the last) question:

I've looked all over town for some aragonite based sand, and I've struck out. I found some silica sandblasting sand "dirt" cheap. (My apologies for the stupid pun). My concern is that the bag carries warnings stating that silica dust will cause silicosis and lung cancer. Is this the same type of sand that others have successfully used? And if not, where else would you suggest I look?

Thanks for your help.
 
Welcome,

I too have found this to be an amazing/informative forum :D

Blasting sand :mad:

Playsand :)

Try Home Depot, or any such home improvement store. A hardware store will probably have something like this also.

Someone else will (almost certainly) reccomend a brand name to look for.
 
I've been lurking and posting a little too lately. I can't speak from experience but I can repeat what I've heard.

You want "Tropical Play Sand" sold at some Home Depots. Tropical play sand is araonite and is a natural pH buffer. Not all Home Depots sell Tropical Play Sand. I live in Pennsylvania and found it with no problem, but you may not be able to find it. If you can't find Tropical play sand, normal play sand (which is silica based) also works supposedly.

Right now I am in the stages of filling my 30 gallon fish tank. I put 50 pounds of sand in it, but that only gave me a 3" sand base. I am picking up another 50 pounds of sand tonight, and going to dump about 2/3 of the bag into my tank to give me a 5" sand base, which should be sufficient for my burrowing jawfish :)
 
I just bought two bags of Tropical Play sand from Home Depot last night and let me reiterate some helpful tips I picked up on the forums for finding the right stuff.

The bag has a blue label with red letters. It will say "not for use in aquariums." It no longer says "Southdown" on it, which is what many people refer to it as. The company name is, I believe, Old Castle and their logo will be on the front at the bottom.

You'll find it tucked away in the landscaping section (the outside part in my Home Depot) where they keep the mulch and the pavers (NOT where you find the sand they keep with concrete mix).

$4 and change per bag.
 
Silica-based sandblasting sand is perfectly fine for use in marine tanks. I've been using it in my reef tank for two years now without a single problem.

Granted, if you can find Southdown/OldKastle sand, go with that as it has buffering capabilities that you won't find in silica-based sands. But, if that's not available in your area, sandblasting and pool filter sands are excellent alternatives.
 
sandblasting sand

Thanks for your replies...

gcvt, I read in another thread that you were having success with sandblasting sand. I just wanted to make sure that my sand was the same type. Since this sand lacks the natural buffering power of aragonite, do you find that you have to work harder to stay on top of your water balance? I want to make sure that I'm not saving a few bucks now only to spend twice as much time and money later.

BTW, I have called everywhere I can think of in KC to find an aragonite or calcium-based sand. The only options are the LFS, which want 12-15 times what I paid for the silica. Maybe it's worth it for the benefits in the long term...Let me know what you think...
 
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