live sand from beach?

[Scubagirl12]

Hey, I need some live sand and was near Daytona beach this week on a road trip so I stopped by and got several gallons of sand in the surf. Is this ok? Would it be too polluted? How should I "clea" it?

 

[JoshsReef]

Bad idea, very bad idea. Way to poluted to use and being you took it from Daytona beach makes it even worse. That is prob one of the dirtiest beack areas on the east coast. I wouldnt put that it my tank but if cycled propery i guess it could maybe work, but I defiantly would not reccomend it

 

[melosu58]

I agree that too much pollution. If you went out in the ocean and got some maybe it would work. Buying sand is really not that expensive.

 

[Ziggy953]

I have to agree not a good idea...too many nasties in that stuff...Sand isn't expensive buy it don't get it off the beach!

 

[Innovator]

I do agree, but if you absolutely must have this sand in your tank, bleach it.

 

[roka64]

I would also get a copper test, no telling how many pennies have been dropped in it....

 

[bapieniazek]

I suppose it would be the same story with rock found at the beach, correct? Is there any way I can just let the rock dry out, clean it very well, and use it as base rock?

thanks

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

It's really just a matter of how much risk you want to take. I think the contamination that folks are worried about wouldn't come out of the rock with any type of cleaning we could do at home. Granted, bleaching will kill all the nasty things that were alive, but I think I'd be more worried about all the nasty things that weren't alive! Personally, I wouldn't want to start a tank with that cloud of doubt hanging over my head. Down the road, if I ran into problems, I'd always be wondering if it was my rock or sand.