Play sand

[AquaBarb]

Ordered some sand online. It was off ebay but was labelled as argos sand. (Like below)

Its been delivered today but its not the normal sand ive had before.

Its play sand from Chad Valley...it says non toxic on the bag so its should be ok but just wondered if anyone else as ever used it just for a piece of mind?

 

[evanb]

I've just changed 2 of my tanks over to play sand from gravel and I had the same issue with Argos giving me Chad Valley instead of Argos's own brand. The Chad valley brand is available exclusively to Argos so my thoughts are that it's exactly the same stuff, just under different branding. It's looks great in my tanks nothing wrong with it so far. You'll love it. Hope this has answered your queries.
Have fun!

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ordered some sand online. It was off ebay but was labelled as argos sand. (Like below)View attachment 121624Its been delivered today but its not the normal sand ive had before.

Its play sand from Chad Valley...it says non toxic on the bag so its should be ok but just wondered if anyone else as ever used it just for a piece of mind?

Yep, got the Chad Valley version in mine, had it for a couple of months now, no problems

 

[AquaBarb]

@evanb @mbsqw1d

Brill guys, thanks very much. Nice to know its safe to use

 

[AbbeysDad]

Imagine the potential legal ramifications if a play sand was ever found to be toxic in any way.
My friend Byron swears by big box store play sand while I lean more towards pool filter sand.

 

[jonny-5]

I've just done mine with the Chad Valley stuff from Argos today. Minimal clouding & was very easy to wash, Seems fine so far but I am only 5 hours in

 

[mbsqw1d]

A quick read suggests that in 2015, argos did a rebrand of their toy department using Chad Valley.
It was 2009 when I last used argos play sand and I must admit I was slightly dubious when the batch I bought a few months ago had Chad Valley plastered all over it. Also, I'm not a fan of the name, I always read it as Chav Valley lol

 

[itiwhetu]

I was looking up sand the other day. I noticed that some Silica sand says it's carcinogenic. It had we wondering about man made crushed sand. And that the tiny particles would be like slithers of glass and could potentially be very bad for fish gills and mouths. The carcinogen part or the sand will be like asbestos if you breath the fine particles in. Any thoughts??

 

[mcordelia]

I was thinking about this myself, but then I figured that the small particles that are harmful are also going to be the lightest, so my rationale was that as long you wash the crap out of it and get all the fine particulate out, then the risk of the remaining stuff should be lower. I think there's technically still an existing risk of individual grains having sharp edges, but I would assume most of those to fracture/polish off over the course of it being washed. My conclusion was that as long as it is not dumped straight into the tank and is properly washed/agitated, then it should be a lot safer. What do you think?

 

[itiwhetu]

I have no real idea. But sometimes we see catfish with red gills and think it is gill flukes, buy could it just be inflamed from the sand they are on. It is this reason I don't like really fine sand in aquariums.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I can only say I've had years of success keeping corydoras on play sand. It's treated in such a way that makes it safe for use by children who are free to rub it in their eyes, eat it, and whatever else is humanly possible!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Ordered some sand online. It was off ebay but was labelled as argos sand. (Like below)View attachment 121624Its been delivered today but its not the normal sand ive had before.

Its play sand from Chad Valley...it says non toxic on the bag so its should be ok but just wondered if anyone else as ever used it just for a piece of mind?

The Argos play sand is OK and it’s safe for fish tanks. The Argos brand is pretty much the UK version of the “Quikrete” stuff we Americans use.

Imagine the potential legal ramifications if a play sand was ever found to be toxic in any way.
My friend Byron swears by big box store play sand while I lean more towards pool filter sand.

His logic makes sense. If a kid were to put it in his mouth, as little kids often do, chances are they would swallow a little bit of it. If it was toxic, they would get sick or heaven forbid; die.

Then lawsuits would be filed and a lot of other stuff would happen.

Pool filter sand is popular, I just like the Quikrete color better. [/QUOTE]