Hardware store sands in reefs

[BCT182]

I was at Lowe's today shopping for some sand, around 300-400lbs to be exact and found that all brands were quikrete. Play sand, general purpose, so on and so on. I was wondering which, if any, are reef safe? I need to be sure there are no concerns of leeching chemicals into the tank which could affect delicate creatures. Any ideas?
Brett

 

[DonW]

I was at Lowe's today shopping for some sand, around 300-400lbs to be exact and found that all brands were quikrete. Play sand, general purpose, so on and so on. I was wondering which, if any, are reef safe? I need to be sure there are no concerns of leeching chemicals into the tank which could affect delicate creatures. Any ideas?
Brett

All of them are going to be silica sand. Silica is a nice fuel for diatoms but thats doesnt mean its not reef safe it just means you may have issues early on.

Don

 

[BCT182]

will the silica eventually skim out? Or will it be a continue battle?

 

[returnofsid]

Being Silica based, you'll experience Diatom issues, as Don mentioned. Another draw back of silica based sands is that they won't act as a buffer like Aragonite based sands would.

 

[mmn_usn]

If you can find it, get South Down Play Sand. It is the same sand as Caribsea uses. Nice fine sand. My brother ran it in his 180 for almost 2 yrs no problems.

 

[thekingfish]

Check out this article toward the bottom.
http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

 

[BCT182]

looks like brown algae and no Ph buffing. Would this sand be okay for a FOWLR? Maybe I'd be better off going BB with a deep sandbed in the fuge.

 

[thekingfish]

Did you want to use the DSB for nitrate control?
Maybe a shallow sandbed for the appearance and a sulphur denitrator for nitrate control.
I made one out of a ro/di canister and had 0 nitrates coming out of the unit in about 2 weeks.

 

[mmn_usn]

Check out this article toward the bottom.
http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

3. Southdown calcium carbonate sand (likely aragonite) can release soluble silica, but about ten fold less than the “silica” sand.

This is from said article. I think no matter what you will end up with some silica.

 

[DonW]

South down has been hard to get for a long time and is now no longer available at all unless you can find someone that has a surplus.

I agree tha the denitrifier is a much smaller easier solution than a remote dsb. They work very well and have a small learning curve.

Don

 

[burning2nd]

http://www.nextag.com/582363633p/prices-html
http://www.coloredplaysand.com/WHITE_SAND

i would be looking for silica free sand... if thats the only case between carb sea and other's

why look for one brand south down?

 

[BCT182]

According to those websites its silicate free. Does everyone agree this should be ok for a shallow sandbed for ascetics in conjunction with a denitrafier?

Also how many pounds would it require to cover 55 square feet with a 1-1.5" sandbed?

 

[jedimike]

At that price, you might as well just buy the CaribSea...

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...ium_Supplies_Substrates_Dry_Sand~vendor~.html

 

[BCT182]

how many sqaure inches would 1 pound cover at 1'" deep? any idea?

 

[jedimike]

how many sqaure inches would 1 pound cover at 1'" deep? any idea?

I hated to have to go to the darkside to get it, but here is a link to a sand bed calc

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

edit: 12" x 12" x 1" = 6lbs

 

[BCT182]

YOUCH! $240 just in shipping!

 

[BCT182]

looks like I need around 600lbs

 

[Sherman]

As a point of reference, I used 90lbs of Southdown to cover my 120 (4x2 footprint) about 2" evenly.