| General Reef Discussion In this forum we discuss issues related to keeping marine and reef aquariums in a friendly flame-free environment. |
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05-05-2004, 12:18 AM
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#1
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Plankton
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Ballston Spa , NEW YORK
Posts: 37
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home depot sand
I know everyone always ask questions about what kind of sand to use, the problem is my home depot in upstate NY doesn't carry southdown sand. What they carry they call tropical play sand from the carabbiean, that is sanitized and silocate free, but on the bottom of the bag it says, not for use as traction or aquarium use. The sand is from a company in Pennsylvania. Is this sand OK to use? or should I keep searching, for something else?
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Tank spec's
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05-05-2004, 06:41 AM
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#2
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The Mechanic
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 375
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I am almost positive that what you are looking for is in a plastic bag and made by old castle...
Eric...
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120 gal sps dominated reef, 40 gal sump, 30 gal fuge,2 Streams on a multicontroller, MRC MR2, 2X250 DE MH, T5 actinics.MRC CR2 calcium reactor.
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05-05-2004, 07:06 AM
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#3
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Nothing to See Here
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Loganville Ga.
Posts: 2,520
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Simple test, Take a teaspoon of the sand and pour a teaspoon of white vinegar on it, if it bubbles its agronite(good) if it does not it is silica ( not so good)
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05-05-2004, 07:08 AM
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#4
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Admin/ Super mod
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: New Castle, Delaware
Posts: 20,294
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why does it bubble?
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Tim
need something to read? just ask me.
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05-05-2004, 07:18 AM
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#5
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Nothing to See Here
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Loganville Ga.
Posts: 2,520
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Good Question, I don't know the answer.
My guess would be, since silica is primarily microscopic slivers of glass it can withstand the acidness of the vinegar.
And agronite is primarily calcium, lime and minerals it can not.
That's my best guess.
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05-05-2004, 07:19 AM
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#6
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Admin/ Super mod
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: New Castle, Delaware
Posts: 20,294
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__________________
Tim
need something to read? just ask me.
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05-05-2004, 07:35 AM
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#7
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Nothing to See Here
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Loganville Ga.
Posts: 2,520
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It's early Bro.
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05-05-2004, 07:50 AM
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#8
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Little fish in a big pond
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Canton, GA USA
Posts: 5,890
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The not for aquarium use waiver is so you can't sue them if the stuff was stored with fertilizer and pesticide and kills everything in your tank.
Before you go and invest in a sandbox full of sand, you might want to check out "The Think Tank" forum here to read some more about sandbeds... many are chucking them out totally in favour of bare-bottomed tanks.
Me, I use a thin layer (3/4" to 1") of live sand, the stuff in the LFS... but then I sell the stuff so my opinion is biased... but it's neat and clean, and one bag is worth the convenience of not having to wash the stuff and have a week-long dustbowl in my tank...
JMHO
Jenn
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Member of the "J" Crowd & the BRW Crowd!
LFS Owner: Imagine Ocean
Just keep skimming, just keep skimming, just keep skimming, skimming skimming! What do we do? We skim, skim, skim!
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05-05-2004, 10:11 AM
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#9
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Southern Oregon, Way West of Dimples ;)
Posts: 22,094
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And FWIW the silica sand won't dissolve in a marine aquarium, but it adds no possibility of buffering like aragonite could possibly under certain circumstances.
At normal tank pH it is not going to dissolve or add much buffering, at pH <7
it can dissolve somewhat, which is why you see aragonite and crushed coral marked not for FW use somethimes at LFS
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05-05-2004, 09:54 PM
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#10
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Nothing to See Here
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Loganville Ga.
Posts: 2,520
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Quote:
Originally posted by Doug1
And FWIW the silica sand won't dissolve in a marine aquarium, but it adds no possibility of buffering like aragonite could possibly under certain circumstances.
At normal tank pH it is not going to dissolve or add much buffering, at pH <7
it can dissolve somewhat, which is why you see aragonite and crushed coral marked not for FW use somethimes at LFS
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Doug is there any raise in diatoms from using silica sand?
many believe silica is the limiting factor with diatoms.
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05-05-2004, 10:51 PM
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Azle, Tx
Posts: 1,544
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I don't believe silica sand will cause diatom blooms, especially if you rinse it well first. Silica needs an acid environment to dissolve and become available for use by diatoms, and, a marine aquarium is just too alkaline. I used about 60% oolitic silica sand from walmart mixed with sugar sized aragonite and some crushed coral for my original deep sand bed on my 55. My tank went through the usual diatom and algal blooms which were complicated by my using tap water. By about a year and a half the tank became more stable and I no longer had algae problems until the tank reached the 4year mark. At that point I started having algae and cyano problems again which I put down to detritus buildup in the sandbed. Point is, I don't believe the silica sand caused any problems with algal/diatom blooms. |
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