Silica sand

[Huyzel]

Is Silica Sand BAD??

i got 50lbs of decorative white silica sand from home depot.
they don't seem to have the southdown tropical play sand up here in canada

anywayz, i heard that silica sand = bad
cuz it can cause brown algea blooms.
true?
it looks decent, kinda fine for my liking... but cheap.
are there any other problems that i should be aware of?
maybe i should just get it all out of my tank(its cycling right now)
and get some coral sand or aragonite or sumthing.
any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Huy

 

[moose1960]

I used 2 bags of Big Als silica sand in my 55g. For about a month it was all nice and white. But now it has a bad case of brown algea bloom in my tank. I thought it was caused by raising my salinity, and having lights on too long (12 hours) but maybe not. I hadnt heard of the sand causing it before. Maybe it is the sand.