Beach sand

[marlinmero]

Since i live near a beach i was wondering if i could go down with a bucket and bring sum sand home. i know its probally illegal but i dont care about that thoe. i was thinking if i took sum and boiled it if it would be ok. boiling should remove any harmful whatevers that is in it right? so take the boiled sand and maybe mix it with sum store bought live sand to help it out. what do you think?

 

[burning2nd]

HMMM...

well all the other stuff aside... i had got some sand from a Beach in Nc outter banks...

ended up introducing pyramid snails to my tank. Not so fun..

IMO its eazyer safer and cheaper to just buy all new sand.

your woundering how it could be cheaper then free sand, well hole bunch of snails later (and maybe fish) i wish i would have just bought it.

Now for boiling... i think that would kill mostly everything.. but im sure something can live thur that.

you tank your risk, your call.

 

[marlinmero]

im thinking about setting up a 200 gallon tank. so the sand alone is going to cost a couple hundred. Thinking if i boil and stir it around as its boiling. the sand i was going to use is at washaway beach in washington. what exactly is pyramid snail?

 

[fishoutofwater]

our sand (Gray)is different and does not look the same as the natural coral sand(tan/white) we use in our tanks. its also real muddy. I would just stick with the new sand. I have rinsed and rinsed or beach sand and it a pain and the results are not worth it.

 

[fishoutofwater]

I can get you 40 lb bags of araganite sand for 40$ a bag by carib sea

 

[marlinmero]

beach sand

alrighty ill have to keep that in mind if i end up not being able to get rid of this stupid tank.

 

[gotfish]

You can get 30lb bags of aragonite from petsmart for $19.95.

 

[fatboyt123]

^^^^^^
thats were i got my sand from.It even goes on sale sometimes and i got some bags for $15.95

 

[chadmace]

Yeah, I recently picked up 160lbs of CaribSea Aragonite Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand for $26.99 per 40lb bag. Shipping was a flat rate $5. I just checked and you can get it now with free shipping.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753226

 

[sandswhitson]

I wouldn't risk it with the beach sand. I think you would be asking for trouble.

 

[burning2nd]

You should also consider bare bottem. its cheaper eazyer to maintain. besides once the coral starts growing on the glass, and little patchs of algae on top of other Coraline and what not it looks bad A$$

 

[Sascha D]

before I moved out here in 07, I used to get my sand from Midway Pets for 40 cents a pound.

 

[returnofsid]

The sand you'd find wouldn't be aragonite based sand, as you'd find near coral reefs. In a reef tank, if you use sand, you really are better off using an aragonite based sand. As for expense, don't get "live sand." Get yourself a few bags of dry, aragonite sand and seed it with a few cups of live sand from another tank.

 

[marlinmero]

Do you have any pictures of the bare bottom? I bet that does look cool haveing a purple bottom. and where is midway pets? well i wont be looking for anysand for awhile now. i had just got done filling the tank up in the bed of my truck "way to much weight on a half ton thought the tires were going to blow lol" but after i had drain it i had a guy help me try and unload it and he dropped his end and shattered the bottom. and that was the end of my 200gallon tank

 

[Darthv247]

oh thats messed up

 

[mmn_usn]

I used sand from a beach in guam... that was before I knew it was not okay to take the sand. It worked great. I got a few creatures but nothing bad. Again that was Guam. I don't know about WA. Haven't found a beach with sand that I like... I say give it a go.

 

[spllbnd2]

As someone already mentioned, the sand here in Washington is a bit different from the sands from the warm coral seas in that it is not as white and fine. The sand that you would get from Washington is more like mud and very grey in color.

I have used some sand from the Grand Caymans, but that was also dried out for about a year and a half before I used it.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Sascha D]

sorry to hear about your tank

 

[marlinmero]

Thanks. it sucks i have a glass shop coming by wednesday to look at it and see if its fixable and how much