limestone leaching?

[tyler]

I bought a bag of playsand to experiment with in my 5 gallon, and on the bag it said the sand was composed of silicates and limestone. I was wondering if anybody knew if the limestone would leach into the water and have detrimental effects on my fish. Thank you.

 

[Guest]

Yes, the limestone will make your water hard and alkiline, if it isn't already. Playsand is not good for a freshwater tank, generally.

 

[tyler]

hard and alkaline, eh? sounds perfect for a brackish tank...

well, i said to hell with it, and put it in there anyway, for the sake of science. the only resident was a white lyretail mollie and he seems to be getting along exceptionally well in the puffer's tank. the puffer hasn't even nipped at him. anyhow, back to the sand tank, i leave you all with this question, what variety of fish should i put in the sand tank? mind you, it's only a five gallon, and now the water may be alkaline and hard. anything come to mind? I like fish that are on the interesting side (like my puffer and my gobie; the mollie was a (failed) experiment), so if anybody can think of anything, let me know. thanks.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

how alkaline and how hard is your water now? these are things you need to know if you are determined to try to use your 'playsand'--without the added playsand, you still need to know your parameters before starting with a particular type of fish. ...that said, why are you so set on using a substrate that is not recommended for freshwater aquarium use? perhaps if you were more knowledgeable in the ways of freshwater fishkeeping this may be something you would be more competent to undertake, until then i would suggest you stick to the recommended and safe alternatives...and how do i reach this conclusion? in your posting you asked first if limestone would leech into the water, um yeah, and if we knew of any fish who may like possibly hard and alkaline water...would it not be more sensible to know if you water was hard and alkaline and to what degree before beginning to pick out fish? If you are dead set on opening new thoroughfares of freshwater fishkeeping at this point in your hobby, i would STRONGLY suggest a thorough understanding of fish stress, water chemistry, and chemistry in general as well as extensive reading in the art of fishkeeping...there is MUCH more to it than throwing your desired decorations and a few fish in a container and watching them flourish....

 

[fishfreek]

jebus has a brackish tank. Given its nature its not a true freshwater nor a true saltwater tank. Its kind of in between and thus there is no real definitive location for brackish questions.

Do you all feel we should have a brackish forum?

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

OOOPS--sorry jebus, thought you had a freshwater tank, maybe we do need a new forum--how many ppl out there keep brackish tanks? psst--anybody got any orange chromides??