michealprater
Aquarium Advice Addict
As some of you know I am setting up my 46 gallon corner tank as a FOWLR.
I bought some sand at home depot (dont have southdown in my area). It was called Gulf coast white beach sand. It is very fine and white. It does not say much about the sand on the bag. It is very nice looking sand. I dont think it is aragonite based but I have yet to do the vinegar test on it. My wife talked to my friend at the LFS and he said make sure it is not silica based, He said this is bad because it will cause me to have a brown slime problem ( I think he was talking about diatoms). Well I was pretty sure that it had been proven that there was no link between silica sand and silicates in fish tanks. It has been awhile since we discussed this but could some one shed some more light on this subject. I am real hesitant to use the sand, but it is very nice and I would like to use it. Should I be worried if it is not aragonite based? How important is calcium levels in a FO tank? After all, calcium is the main benifit of aragonite sand right?
I bought some sand at home depot (dont have southdown in my area). It was called Gulf coast white beach sand. It is very fine and white. It does not say much about the sand on the bag. It is very nice looking sand. I dont think it is aragonite based but I have yet to do the vinegar test on it. My wife talked to my friend at the LFS and he said make sure it is not silica based, He said this is bad because it will cause me to have a brown slime problem ( I think he was talking about diatoms). Well I was pretty sure that it had been proven that there was no link between silica sand and silicates in fish tanks. It has been awhile since we discussed this but could some one shed some more light on this subject. I am real hesitant to use the sand, but it is very nice and I would like to use it. Should I be worried if it is not aragonite based? How important is calcium levels in a FO tank? After all, calcium is the main benifit of aragonite sand right?