Play Sand

[MrMashashin]

Well I bought 100lbs of play sand today and I was wondering would it work or do I need the white collored sand?

 

[The-Wolf]

I have playsand in two of my tanks, no problems and none expected

just remember to wash, wash, wash and wash some more; before adding to your tank.

 

[Navarre]

eek!

Actually i wanted the same sand as you have there. I like it very uch and it so fine that it would look great in the tank. I asked the same questions as you and was given lots of reasons why NOT to use it.

Play sand is usually rich in silicates. This means that you will have horrendous prooblems stopping the diatoms and cyano outbreaks as the sand is simply too rich in it.

For some reason, play sand seems to "sit" weird in the tank. if you watch it under water it takes on a sort of "jelly" like appearance and looks odd IMO.

Lastly it doesnt buffer your tank. Probably one of the most important things with sand is its ability to buffer the tank and keep PH stable. (many people forget this aspect of the sand). If you dont use a sand thats used for marine tanks then it simply wont be able to offer the buffer support the tank will need to keep the PH stable during hte night ect when PH usually drops alot withiut anyone realsiing.


I would use Aragonite sand (the white sand you mentioned) it looks good, gives a gret surface area for bioload and it will help to keep PH stable.

 

[The-Wolf]

I hadn't realised this was in the marine forum )

Erm my tanks are tropical freshwater, so ignore what I said.

 

[MrMashashin]

well now this is a big problem. No stores sell this sand you speak of. I could goto a lfs and get a bag of the sand but the sand he has is about 10lb bags. Would it work if i mixed them? The closest place that would sell this sand you speak of is like 40min. away. Mt parents wont go for just 2 bags of sand. Would it be kinda better if I do a small base layer on the bottom of the sand I already bought and but this marineland sand ontop in a 2 inch layer?

 

[Navarre]

No problem. I have seen playsand used in Freshwater tanks before and it looks very good. I dont think the sand is as critical in freswhater as it is in marine tanks.

 

[MrMashashin]

so should I go for it?

 

[Navarre]

If you use play sand (sand made from silicates) then you are risking perminant Algea Not all playsand releases silicates in the sand but i would not risk it.


I would prefer to have a bare bottomed tank than use it

 

[MrMashashin]

well crap..... This sucks. When ever I post on advice for this kinda thing no one responds till I buy the wrong thing. I'll chack the pack for anything that says silicate. I guess I'm out 4 bucks lol. I was told that white play sand would work so whats the difference between that and this?

 

[Navarre]

Sorry, with the time delay in the USA and UK i tend to answer the questions a few hours after they are posted.

Basically, when setting up a reef tank i would not cut corners. Especially when the these are going to be the buildingblocks of the reef. If the sand is wrong and you have the tank setup with rocks and fish etc, it will be a nightmare to remove.

Aragonite is simply the best IMO. If your LFS can get liverock then im sure they can get aragonite. Any fish shop that sells marine fish should supply the basic fundomentla requirements to build a setup IMO.

 

[MrMashashin]

OK! Now I have to wait another 2-3 weeks to go to the closest marine shop. Right now my cash is gone! I'm goin to have to wait till the end of the month I guess. By then I'll have like 200 bucks or something around there. Then I can goto Pet Land and get the sand for an outragous price.

OH and Navarre, Is there any way you can download Aol Instant Messanger so I can communoicate with you more easly?

 

[Navarre]

I use MSN all the time.

You can reach me via MSN by adding me to the list if you have MSN Messenger.
My email address for this is :

[email protected]

I also have ICQ but rarely use it to be honest

 

[MrMashashin]

i'm on it now my SN is [email protected]