ExaltedFish Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Can o use it? its from barbados and i thought i might as well get some of it instead of buying any. will it be ok? after cleanig and stuff. responses are welcomed. thank you Link to comment
Shaz Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 I would say no for sure... The sand that most people collect is usually at least a mile from shore. Anything that comes in contact with humans on a daily basis has a chance of being polluted with unwated junk. Also, they may not let you take a big bag of sand into America... I know when I went to Jamaica they wouldnt let us take any of the fruit from the island, or stuff like that. Link to comment
Whitten Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 If you can get sand from a reef while diving and then mail it to yourself..I say go for it. Other wise most sand on beaches is silica based sand and their for not effective for buffering like aragonite sand is. Stay away from silica sand..sand like that of any you find at any American beach or even in Barbados. Link to comment
RandomLetters Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Originally posted by Whitten If you can get sand from a reef while diving and then mail it to yourself..I say go for it. Other wise most sand on beaches is silica based sand and their for not effective for buffering like aragonite sand is. Stay away from silica sand..sand like that of any you find at any American beach or even in Barbados. But to be fair, Its also been suggested that aragonite sand does not buffer either. Silica sand is also not the evil people think it is, I had a silica sand bed in my 2 past reefs and my old 16 bowfront, moved everything from the 16 to a 10g its been running sense March with no real algae problems, I do have a refugium though but my past tanks were also silica sand with no refuge and no problems. Link to comment
ExaltedFish Posted December 12, 2004 Author Share Posted December 12, 2004 well. i already have it and it is a rough sand, looks like there is broken coral in it, wouldn't boiling the sand get rid of all the pollutants from it though? Link to comment
RandomLetters Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Unless you can find someone out whose tried it you may not able to get a factual answer. So I would say Ricse it well boil it if you feel like it and give it a try, Let us know what happens! Link to comment
Travis Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 You'll never know what happens till you do it. I guess thats what this area of the hobby, nano-reefing, is all about. Link to comment
ExaltedFish Posted December 12, 2004 Author Share Posted December 12, 2004 ok than ks for the help. i am going to try it out and i will post results, i myself cant really see any problems with it as it will be cleaned, but will there still be any kind of ph buffer? Link to comment
Whitten Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Long term results are what I am after, and everything I have read and seen in my own tanks suggests that silica sand is bad mojo. Link to comment
RandomLetters Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Originally posted by ExaltedFish ok than ks for the help. i am going to try it out and i will post results, i myself cant really see any problems with it as it will be cleaned, but will there still be any kind of ph buffer? The salt will buffer the PH and sense you should be doing frequent partial water changes it won't be a problem. Whitten, I have no plans of taking this tank down or changing the sand any time soon so I'll definately keep you updated as we get closer to 1 year running Link to comment
ExaltedFish Posted December 12, 2004 Author Share Posted December 12, 2004 Whitten, not sure if u mean the sand i got, it is not silica, but what is wrong with it anyways? Link to comment
Polareef Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 My 10g has 2-3 lbs. of Hawaiian Beach Sand, shells, lava and rubble I personally collected. It is mixed mostly on top of 12lbs. of Red Sea brand 1-2mm agronite plus 1 lb of fine white live sand on top of a plenum. My aquarium was filled for the first time Oct. 17th and I have seen no problems with contamination. Levels are O for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, with strong, PH, ALK and Calc. My animals are healthy, including an octocoral that is budding and a shrimp that had offspring and molted. I did no special preparation to the sand. I let it sit for a few months, picked out a few scraps, rinsed it, put it in the tank and filled it up. I do have green algae but I think this is mostly due to a new tank with a Monaco system with bright new lights. I doubt it is a problem with silica because I think that the yellow corn-meal sand is mostly crushed coral.(someone confirm this). I am also running Phos-Zorb so that should take care of silicates. I knew I was taking a risk by adding the sand but wanted that authentic touch from sand and shells I collected myself. Worked OK for me. Your mileage may vary. Link to comment
dickie52 Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Go ahead and use it, it will look great and work great.... I have used sand from beaches many times and love it..... everytime you look at it, you will remember your trip, plus the fish love it!!! Link to comment
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