Sand

[Agnate80700]

I know oldcastle and yard right playsand is primo stuff for our aquariums, but are they the only brands that are what we want?

I have had no luck finding either of the two brands talked about but I have come accross lots of other brands. Does anyone know of any other brands that would be as good as oldcastle/yardright?

 

[roka64]

I think Kolorscape might work. The trick it to take some vinegar with you and put some sand in your hand, dump some vinegar on it and if it foams buy it.

 

[Agnate80700]

Ok. I was at HD about 30 min ago and I saw Kolorscape sand... there were 2 kinds. And it does indeed say 'distributed by Oldcastle inc.' on th bag.

There was a brown-ish sand they called 'all purpose' and then a white sand they called 'white play sand' i believe.

I rummaged around the store and found some tarnish remover (said on the back 'caution contains [some sort of] acid') so I took that over to the sand and poured some on both.

The all purpose sand didnt do anything, but the white sand fizzed just a little bit. If I had to guess, I would say the white sand looks like something you'd find in the ocean.

How much is it supposed for fizzle?

 

[Innovator]

If I remember correctly, Marcona Ocean Industries used to provide or does provide the sand for Caribsea and Old Castle. The Southdown was the commercial packaging and Yard Right is the retail version of the same. Still hard to find anywhere except on the east coast. Kolorscape is of another gradient by Old Castle and probably from Marcona as well. You can pour white vinegar in a glass and add some of the sand to it. If it begins to fizzle or bubble (don't expect a volcano eruption by any means) then it contains calcium carbonate.

 

[Devilishturtles]

The play sand should be just fine for what you want, and I believe many people here have used it before. The fizz, like Innovator said, means the sand contains calcium carbonate, which will help buffer your water. Just make sure the sand is plain, untreated sand and you'll be good to go.

 

[Agnate80700]

Ok i think im good to go with the kolorscape white play sand. It definetly made fizz when I poured the acid on it (i didnt use vinegar, i just used some random item i found in the store that contained acid lol)

So whats the rule on how much sand for a tank? Does it go by lbs per gallon?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Generally, 1-2 pounds per gallon is a good general guideline, and should give you ~ 2 inches of depth. Of course, if you want more, add more. If you want less, add less. Depth is really dependend on your tastes. Some people run barebottom tanks (no sand) to DSB tanks with 5 inches of sand.

 

[Agnate80700]

Is there a benifit to deep sand beds?

 

[melosu58]

http://www.fantasyreef.com/flash/calculator.html

Here is a good aquarium calculator. Just click on sand bed calculator. Figure out how deep you want and it will tell you how much you need. As far as the benefits of deep sand bed

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/deepsandbeds.htm

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/j_lowrie_061498.html

http://www.ronshimek.com/Deep Sand Beds.htm

HTH

 

[Agnate80700]

So according to one of the articles, were looking at 6-10 inches of sand bed for optimal effect?

6 i could do, 10 is a little much I'd think...

6 inches of sandbed is 500lbs of sand! holy moley. 10 bags though, thats only like $50. this tank is so heavy its almost unbelievable lol. Thank god a steel I-beam runs directly underneith the tank lol.

So just to be clear, i want to review the what I understand:

1) Kolorscape is distributed by Oldcastle. Oldcastle is provided material by Marcona Ocean Industries which gets its sand from the carrib. floor?

2) Acid causes calcium carbonite to break down aka fizzle. Sand that fizzles due to addition of acid can be concluded that it is CC based?

3) As long as the substrate contains CC, it will provide the benifits we seek?

4) While silica based sand will not be detrimental to the aquarium, it will not provide the benifits CC based sand will?

I just want to make sure I get the sandbed right, this is one of those 'no takesies-backsies.'

And on a side note, is there a chance that the kolorscape sand has extra junk in it? Maybe its like 50/50 silica/aragonite? It sorta doesnt make sense they would package oldcastle sand one way, and then the same company would package the exact same product under a different brand name...

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

3) As long as the substrate contains CC, it will provide the benifits we seek?

4) While silica based sand will not be detrimental to the aquarium, it will not provide the benifits CC based sand will?

I think most will agree with 1 and 2, but you're going to get mixed opinions on 3 and 4. Just because the playsand is cc based, does not mean it doesn't have a bunch of garbage in it that will leach into your system.

If you haven't discovered it yet, there are very few "correct" answers in this hobby and many different people have had many different experiences. Getting "the facts" isn't really going to happen - you just have to decide for yourself armed with as many different opinions (and the reasoning behind those opinions) as you can find.

I just want to make sure I get the sandbed right, this is one of those 'no takesies-backsies.'

Actually... you CAN do it over, it's just a matter of how much of a hassle you want to go through.

I struggled with the whole sand bed thing too. While there are lots of different opinions on other stuff, I found a ton of differing opinions on DSBs. If I remember correctly, the concensus seemed to say that you either need to go with a thin layer of sand (1" or less), or you need a thick layer (4" or more). Anything in between was causing more harm than good. Personally... I couldn't bring my self to do 6" deep either, but I didn't want 1". I ended up with 4" for the most part - maybe 3" in spots. (My clown is currently doing a little renovation in the corner, and I think that spot may be down to 2-2.5" now!) Anyway... I was worried about this since I seem to be flirting with "no mans land", but the tanks been up nearly 10 months now, and catastrophe hasn't struck. Yet.

It sorta doesnt make sense they would package oldcastle sand one way, and then the same company would package the exact same product under a different brand name...

Sure it does... look at all those Proctor & Gamble shampoos that are on your store shelves! Or even General Motors!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Kurt said it well.

1 & 2 you've got right.

3, Calcium carbonate will help buffer your water, but you don't NEED to use calcium carbonate based sand to have a successful tank. IMHO, it definitley helps.

4, You can use an all silica based sand if you wanted, but a CaCO3 based sand would be better, IMO. The thing about silica leaching into the water and creating diatom problems...I don't buy it. Glass is mostly silica and it hasn't been contributed to causing diatom blooms. Again, CaCO3 helps to buffer, and can go a long way in keeping pH up if other conventions fail (such as tap water, salt mix, or whatever).

I'm 99% sure Kolorscape sand is perfect for use, even though it probably is a 50/50 calcium carbonate/silica mix. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that all playsand must be sterilized before it can be marketed as such. This should mean that the sand is safe for use. If you do a google search for kolorscape play sand, you'll come up with a bunch of threads on reef forums and people using it in their tanks. Only thing I've found so far that is detrimental about it, is that it can be sharp. But unless you are going to be stocking your tank with garden eels or sand sifting gobies, I wouldn't worry about it (and I probably wouldn't even worry about it even if you were).

Just my opinions, of course.

 

[Agnate80700]

Yeah lol kurt, I meant too much hassle for me to go through when i said no take backs. I dont even wanna think about how to replace a sandbed in a fully setup tank (if it is any less than a full tear-down)

And im pretty sure your right about the sterilization devilishturtles, infact aside from a quick google for a photo of the bag, im pretty sure it says that right on the front of the packaging.

Then its settled: 10 fifty lb bags of kolorscape white play sand! Who wants to help lug all that around? hehe