Sand? Please don't beat me up but I have to

[joe healey]

Ok. Newbie here that has been scouring all the posts about substrates and sand particularly Southdown Yardright and Old Castle. It has been becoming more obviouse to me that these items are no longer avaliable. Has anyone used just regular play sand ( i do have some Yardright White Play Sand not Tropical and failed the vinegar test) and has it, or will it work for use as a base sand about 2" deep and then add Carib Sea live sand over that maye 1" to 2" and then seed with a cup of known sand from an established (early thank you to Daire) tank. I did come across 1 post that the writer said he used regular brown play sand and had no problem with it. One post is not enough for me to decide it is ok, sorry. I really would like to not make a mistake, get all said and done and have to tear it back down for the wrong or sand that will cause problems. Some experts say silica in sand is ok, the SD has minimal PH bearing and so on. Anyway I don't need the sand quite yet but will in a few weeks be ready for that stage. So don't beat on me too badly for asking this question again as I see it does come up often.

Joe

 

[stevenp]

Your timing is good since this was discussed at the last meeting. I didn't attend but found the minutes in the following thread quite interesting. FWIW, I'm not a big fan of Southdown because I don't like how fine it is, but I'm quite the anomaly with that opinion; everyone else raves about the stuff. I'm using Carib Sea in my new 110 (not the live stuff though, the dry stuff).

I wouldn't worry about using live sand, you'll be fine just adding a cup from an established aquarium to seed it. The pods and stuff will mulitply like crazy.

Even if the brown sand is OK, I wouldn't like the look of it.

http://bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23043&highlight=minutes

Steve

 

[JohnK]

Have you checked with Marc at fishy buisness (on the cape, Chatam I think) re: sand? I think he used to have a truck load or so of southdown.

 

[RichConley]

The common play sand is fine.

Theres really only 2 drawbacks:
1. Its brown
2. Silicate sand is harder, and sharper than aragonite sand, so its easier to scratch the tank with.

 

[Chris L]

I Have Used The White Playsand In My 110 And It Is Fine

 

[mloebl]

In my 29g tank I used some white play sand from Yardright that says "For Reptile Use", however it says it may contain silicates. I did the vinager test, and it fizzed quite a bit for several hours, and took over 24hrs to stop fizzing. I mixed it with some live sand that I had that was much coarser as well as some crushed coral rubble.

-Mike