Will Beach Sand raise the pH in my Tank?

[WaterBaby]

I recently brought some sand home from a trip to the beach and would like to sterilize and use it as a substrate in one of my freshwater tanks.

I seem to remember reading that because of the bits of seashells in the sand, it would raise the pH of the water. My water out of the tap is 7.6 to begin with.

What do you think?

 

[Max]

It depends on the sand some of it's silica ,"glass", and it will have no affect on water ph ," the stuff in it might though." If it's white beech sand it will calcium carbonate will disolve into your water and dramatically alter your ph.
An angle you may not have considered is that there could be aoll sorts of foreign/toxic items in the sand oils, sun tan lotion, etc. I'd just go to home depot or where ever and get plain old yellow silica sand . Be prepaired for a little sand storm though when you put it in the tank you might consier doing it with out any fish in there and with your filtration system off for the next few days. By the way the fine particles of sand with also help out with your bio-filtration and for any plants you might add. I'm sort of surprised more f.w. people don't try it but, 99.5% of my exp is with s.w. not fresh.
hth
chris

 

[WaterBaby]

Thanks chris,

Thanks, I really didn't think about all the nasties (oils, lotions, etc) that might be in it. I actually scooped it out of the surf and not the actual beach (but it may have been on the beach at one time).

I have used "Home Depot" play sand in one of my tanks as a substrate before, and have used it in my hermit crab tank.

I just thought that it would "look different" in the tank because it is from the beach.