Live sand from the beach....

[SeeDemTails]

I live in daytona beach florida, and have nice clean white beach sand 5 miles from my house.....can I use it in a new tank?!

It would be great if I could!

Billy

 

[SassyAngel111]

Billy,
What I have heard that would not be wise to use sand from the beach to much pollutants IMO, but someone else with more experience will chime in.

 

[Guest]

I live in daytona beach florida, and have nice clean white beach sand 5 miles from my house.....can I use it in a new tank?!

It would be great if I could!

Hey Seedemtails, I just moved from Florida for a multitude of reasons. One was because IMO it is a police state, and everything seems to be a felony. With all the beach erosion and destruction from the Hurricanes I'd watch my back if your'e thinking about taking some sand off of Daytona beach. The authorities might frown on it. Wouldn't want to try to manage a fish tank from the grey bar hotel. They would probably call it destruction of a wildlife preserve knowing that state. If your still looking for a natural cheap sorce of sand that doesn't have all the junk in it from the beach try the woods. Lots of sugar sand and with a whole lot less pollutants. It should still be somewhat of an arragonite mix. The whole state of florida is on an old Coral Pennisula. Just try some vinager and see if it starts fissing, if it does you hit paydirt.

 

[BillyZ]

This question comes up quite frequently actually. All state and local laws are different from area to area so I would strongly advise you to check that first. Your best bet would be to call any local department of conservation or Wildlife Control etc. Often you may be allowed a certain amount per ____ or not at all from certain areas etc. Look into it first.

_IF_ it turns out to be OK, I'll second Sassy's comment about the pollutants. The sand at the water's edge is where all the gunk and seafoam and dead critters wash up and collect. This you don't want to use. If you are legally able to collect the sand, go off shore as deep as you safely can and collect from there. Be careful what you collect, and be cautious of collecting other living things (other laws will come into effect) and you dont want to introduce a harmful lifeform into your tank.

HTH

 

[jasno999]

Buy playsand from home depot. 50lb bags for pretty cheap.

 

[malkore]

silica based playsand is not really ideal for a SW tank. its not the right grain size, or type of sand as the ocean.

If you're gonna do it, do it right...get aragonite based sand. Sometimes Home depot does carry this, but it should be over $10 per bag if its the right stuff.


I'm pretty sure it's illegal in Florida to remove sand from the beaches, aside from the pollution factor.

 

[jasno999]

People do it all the time.

Yes if you can get a sand with a larger grain size and somehting that is closer to natural go for it. But I think others on the board have used all different types and sizes of sand without problem.

 

[roka64]

What about desert white sand? Is that silica based? I think I was some either at Wal-Mart or Home Depot.....

 

[Guest]

I'm still looking for a home depot anywhere that carries that aragonit sand. The typical response when I ask them for SOUTHDOWN is what is that. duhhhhhhhhhh-I dont know what that is. After about the twentyith homedepot I gave up.