Sand from Beach?

[kylebacc]

Hey,

what do you guys think about taking sand from the beach? Obviously I would find a place where there is no human activity, and try to scoop the cleanest possible sand...

The thing is, I live in Naples, FL and we have really really white sand, and I think it would look great in my tank. I don't mean out of the water, I mean off the land. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kyle

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Personally, I wouldn't. Even if there wasn't another human around for miles. You just have absolutely no idea what is in that sand.

 

[QTOFFER]

I don't think it would be worth the effort when you can buy pre-sterilized white sand in your choice of silica/quartz or coral composition.

Recently, I was having some trouble keeping the pH in one of my planted FW tanks high enough to keep my apple snails happy. Rather than buy a 25 lb bag of aragonite, I decided to sprinkle crushed clam shells on the surface. I went to the beach and gathered a grocery bagful of white clam shells. At home, I washed them and smashed them into tiny pieces that filled TWO 6 quart pots. I boiled them for 30 min, bleached them overnight, boiled again for 30 min, and let them air dry. It was a bigger PITA than I expected. I had to use all my kitchen pots to boil the shells and my kitchen stunk of bleach. If I had it to over again, I would have bought the aragonite and donated the 20 lbs that I didn't need to my aquarium club auction. I wouldn't even want to think of doing this treatment to sand - especially the amount that you would probably want!

BTW, the clam shells stabilized and raised my pH to a snail-friendly 7.6, but the point is that I probably should have just bought some aragonite.

 

[cmor1701d]

You never know what pollutants are in the sand. JUST DON"T DO IT as opposed to the sneaker commercials. If you want to collect sand offshore fist find out if it's legal in State/Federal waters or be prepared for a long day in a boat.

I believe that as far as the commercially available aragonite sand, "All of this comes from a cay in the bahamas where Marcona has a 24/7 mining operation and fills a boat that has a 3000ton/hr conveyer!"

Marcona refers to Marcona Ocean Industries, Fort Pierce, FL, who mine the stuff and sell it in bulk (100 tons) only.

 

[melosu58]

I agree. I would not do it either.

 

[Ziggy953]

Nah, as inexpensive as sand is I'll just keep buying mine!

 

[cmor1701d]

Check out this eBay auction for LS.

 

[lando]

I will just echo what everyone esle says...taking sand from the the beach is just too risky. Go for the store bought stuff.