Can I Use Beach Sand?

madjoker14

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Hello everone once again, I'm currently in the middle of redoing my fish tank and was thinking of using natrual sand,

Could I use beach sand (of course I have wash it really good to prevent anything from tranfering over) as the flooring of the fish tank

Is there anything else I should be aware of and should I just go and scoop up some sand from the beach??
Thanks again everyone for any info :)

EDIT: I also forgot to mention, I know that gravel also containts some usefull bacitira and was wondering what would be the best way to tranfer the sand (if I do it) with out killing the bactiria
 
I would not advise using beach sand as it could have harmful bacteria etc. and i think you will find it is illegal to remove from the beach(?)..and you dont know whats been on it. I would go with argos sand...

£2 odd for 15kg bag and it goes along way.
Just rinse it out throughly until all the murky water is clear and chuck into the tank.

You would probably want the bacteria in beach sand to die...just in case it is harmful I would have thought.

If you have gravel that has been in the tank and has not been left to dry out get hold of a bag of some sort (or cut off a piece of ladies tights to make a bag) and put that in the new tank and that will help seed the new substrate.
 
hey thanks for the reply, i feel kinda dumb because i made this post on my phone wail i was at work but when i got home i just googled it and found that many people have askd this question so im sorry for the same post over and over again :)

but let me ask you this, which would U perfer, sand or gravel ??

hey you think i should make a post called

Gravel V.S. Sand

just to see whaat people think on this matter or has this been covered already?

but what do you think is better??
 
Both have their good and bad points and have been discussed here quite alot.

Gravel is easy to vacuum and clean when you need to clean out the tank but can be expensive to buy.

Sand I think looks better persoanally but it is harder to clean with a vaccum and you have to make sure you dont get any pockets of gases as they can be harmful to your fish. and it is probably cheaper to buy. I would not buy it from an aquatic shop as it can cost alot.

If you have a look on the "search" engine at the top of the forum page on the right somethings should come up to do with substrates that other peeps here have asked.

How big is your tank?
Good luck
 
ohh no its small, 10g tank, the reason y im thinking of chaning is becuase of 2 things

1. to make it look better
2. because im planing on having shrimps and some new plants

what u think of that ??
 
As you have already realised beach sand should not be used. Its also illegal to take beach sand.
As to Sand V's Gravel its down to what you find better and easier.
My 4ft tank I have changed to sand in the bottom, its a pain to vac I always end up with sand going through the vac, but my corys love it and my plants seems to like it better they seem to root easier. I have amano shrimp, frogs and community fish in that tank.
I have a 2ft tank with pea gravel, my plants are coming on but I don't think they are as good as the main tank, I have cherry shrimp and fry in this tank cleaning is much easier and it never looks as messy as the sand, fish poo blends into the gravel more than it ever does the sand but I have to admit I do prefer sand.
 
I remember someone mentioning to me a while ago about not sticking real shells in a tank as it affects the pH and other things, now i'm not fully sure about what i'm going to say so don't shout :D I'm fairly sure sand is basically shells/rocks that have just been eroded extensively, and if that is what sand is, then the sand you pinch from the beach will affect your water, not to mention all the salt in it =]
 
I would not advise using beach sand as it could have harmful bacteria etc. and i think you will find it is illegal to remove from the beach(?)..and you dont know whats been on it. I would go with argos sand...

I'm not sure either of the above is true, though the restriction on moving sand, does apply to some beaches. boiling and drying sand out will kill all the bacteria and the other harmful stuff. i happen to like the colours of many UK beach sands. whilst playsand is good stuff, and cheap, i am not impressed with its colour. would i collect some from a UK beach? Too right i would. lets face it if every person in the UK, who keeps fish, took enough for their tanks, (ok CFC not everyone has a lake sized tank lol) even from one beach, it would not be noticed. hundreds of tonnes of sand are blowen inland every day. but our beaches dont seem to be running out. however doing it on a commercial basis is not on.and it would have the same effect on your tank as shop bought sand would. saying that much of the sand on the east coastof Scotland is white, and made from coral so i guess that may have an effect. but after the tank settles it would be a water buffer. so it may actually be a good idea!
 

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