Live Sand

[all_waze]

Hi

I live near Jacksonville, Florida. Myquestion is: Can I go to the beach and go out about 50 to 100 feet from the low tide mark and collect sand? Is that considered "live sand" and is it okay to use in a saltwater tank?

Thanx

 

[Colin_T]

yep it is live sand and can be used in your tank. As long as you don't collect it from a marine park you shouldn't have any trouble with the authorities.
You don't have to go out very far to get it. I collect mine from along the low tide mark, in an inch of water. Quite often you will find finely crushed shell and you can sieve that with a fish net to get the shell. A lot of the time you will get snail, worms and other things in the sand so try to keep it wet while transporting it home.

 

[all_waze]

yep it is live sand and can be used in your tank. As long as you don't collect it from a marine park you shouldn't have any trouble with the authorities.
You don't have to go out very far to get it. I collect mine from along the low tide mark, in an inch of water. Quite often you will find finely crushed shell and you can sieve that with a fish net to get the shell. A lot of the time you will get snail, worms and other things in the sand so try to keep it wet while transporting it home.

Colin_T

Thanx again for your help. Seems you are a many talented individual. I am just exploring different avenues while getting back into the aquarium hobby. Its been a while since I have kept tanks of either fresh or salt water. I found a beautiful pr of Kribs today but alas...don't have any tanks set up. Am planning on starting with a 75 gal for salts and a 45 gal hi for fresh. Wish i could fudge the system....lol. Thanx again,

JIM

 

[Colin_T]

You can put s refugium on any system before or after it is set up. If the tank isn't set up then get a couple of holes drilled in the base and attach some pipes. These can go into another tank under the display. One pipe is an outlet and the other is a return.
If the tank is already set up then get a prefilter surface skimmer with an auto siphon and that will allow you to take water from the display and run it into a sump/refugium before being pumped back up.

 

[SkiFletch]

To be honest, I'd be very very careful about collecting sand from the beach, it is often laiden with pollution and dissolved organics. Remember, the beach is the ocean's skimmer, and I know I wouldn't want that in my tank... If you do decide to use beach sand, do so from an unpopulated area where oils and pollutants are not likely to be found.

 

[all_waze]

To be honest, I'd be very very careful about collecting sand from the beach, it is often laiden with pollution and dissolved organics. Remember, the beach is the ocean's skimmer, and I know I wouldn't want that in my tank... If you do decide to use beach sand, do so from an unpopulated area where oils and pollutants are not likely to be found.

Hi

Thnx for the input. The area I will be gathering the sand from is 40 miles from nowhere. Its at the mouth of the intracoastal where the current is continuous and fast so I think probably pollutants will be at a minimal. Thnx again.

JIM

 

[steelhealr]

Tides carry things.....there is not guarantee that you won't introduce a parasite. Caution. SH