adding sand

[Lindsikins00]

Ok I want to make my sand bed deeper, but I can't find aragonite play sand, but I already have about 35 lbs of aragonite sand from the fish store. I really don't want to buy more at 27 dollars a bag, can I add regular play sand since I already have aragonite. Will that mess up the PH or will the exsisting aragonite still take care of that? Thanks

 

[electrikat]

alot of people here use regular play sand only so yes I would say you can mix them.

 

[dianeww]

What about the granular dolomite limestone that I've read posts about very recently? Wish all these posts about the same subject could stay together! :? Do others agree about the regular playsand mixing in OK ?

 

[maxamillion]

no, NOT regular playsand... you MUST buy some sort of tropical playsand... it will be white in color and look dry... the bad stuff is brownish and looks moist... YOU DONT WANT THAT! (I know all too well..... as I accidentally thought that was the stuff I wanted so I put some in my sump... everything in there ended up dead.... yikes... oh well, it was only a few snails anyway... now I have a new sandbed in my new sump)

 

[Lindsikins00]

I thought I remember someone saying you can use quikcrete play sand, that it was safe but didn't buffer the PH. Is that ok play sand to use?

 

[dianeww]

So is the white color a key? I saw some premium some kind or other playsand at HD, but didn't buy it because it didn't say anything about tropical or coral at all.

 

[gooyferret]

You can use 100% sandblasting sand, I know many people that have used that with great sucess. Wont buffer but will give you a deeper sandbed. HTH

 

[dianeww]

What exactly is sandblasting sand?

 

[dianeww]

Could someone with some expertise take a look at this article I found while trying to search old posts?

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html

To me this sounds like silica sand shouldn't be a problem. Help!!

 

[dianeww]

Can we bring this back for a bit again? There are a few questions here still unanswered....any new input?

1. What is sandblasting sand?

2. That pure white "premium play sand" (I found some at HD).. OK or not?

3. Again, there's a link in my last post here which makes silica sand sound OK. Comments on this article?

$. Granular dolomite limestone (like from the garden center). Someone here is using that, can't remember who. Opinions? Anyone using it?

Thanks! I need more sand!

 

[morgan24]

liveaquaria.com has a sale on argonite sand for like 20lbs for $19.00 shipped u could try to look around there. i think it would be better than regular play sand. i think u could get some algea problems maybe from the play sand because of the silicate in it. But not for sure. someone correct me if wrong

 

[David03]

Thanks everyone for addressing this question.

I'd like to add a follow-up, if I may.

For cycling purposes and cost purposes, could you combine oolitic argonite sand and "live sand" and still be ok? Seems to me that if you go 50-50, the live sand and live rock could "seed" the oa sand, kind of like LR seeding base rock, but not have the cost of going 100% LS.

Just a thought.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MYTY1705]

I have used silica and hod no problems. Silicates not silica causes algae. There are only two downside to using silica.
1. Sand sifters don't like it becase of the sharp edges of the sand.
2. It will not buffer the ph for your water.

If you mix the arag. and silica, place the silica in the bottom of the tank first and then cover it with the arag. Preferably a 2" cover to give the sifters play room.

 

[dianeww]

I made a find! After many unsuccessful trips to HD, on Saturday I found bags of beautiful pure white playsand called, surprisingly enough, "White Play Sand", brand name is Durascape, part of the Old Castle company. The only mention of sand type says "small amounts silica". Not knowing what the "Large amounts" were, I took it home to do the vinegar test, and lo and behold, bubbles!! It appears to be largely limestone based, so I am going to try it out. Says one bag covers 5 square feet (almost exactly the square feet of a 48 x 18 base tank) to a depth of one inch, costs $3.99. No weight given, so I weighed it myself...47.5 pounds. Good?

 

[Jermz79]

I don't really know if I would take the chance or not, but I am one of those kinda people where if I'm going to do something I want to do it right and not have to worry about changing things later on!

I went to www.premiumaquatics.com and they have CaribSea aragonite sand 40lb bags for 24.99! Now to me that is a good deal, yeah it's not $3.99 for 47lbs, but at least I know I will have no worries down the road.