What's wrong with this sand?!?

[MickieFish]

I'm switching my 10 gallon to an all ADF tank, so today at LFS I bought a lil bag of "marine sand" for the substrate. When I got it home, it said to soak it, which I did, for about 10 minutes (didn't say how long). So, when it's soaking, all these little ball looking things come up to the top. Now the sand is in the 10 Gal, and all the sand looks kinda like little white balls. What the heck is this crap? Sure ain't sand! It HAS accomplished my goal of the frog's food not sinking down into gravel, but I'm just wondering what this stuff is. Thanks!!

 

[toddnbecka]

Might be crushed coral that's been processed to a smaller size. Keep an eye on the pH, it will probably raise it.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I would not use marine sand for a freshwater tank. Freshwater sand or pfs would be a better option. As for the balls, do you have pics?

 

[MickieFish]

no, I don't have a digital camera, so no pics. Next to the sand was a product that had argonite and sand together. It really looks kinda like the argonite stuff. The bad I bought said it was good for freshwater and salt water and terrariums. This is frustrating! AND the stuff broke my stoopid filter! GRR!!

 

[kay-bee19]

....I bought a lil bag of "marine sand" for the substrate. When I got it home, it said to soak it, which I did, for about 10 minutes (didn't say how long)....

I use sand in all of my tanks, and I usually rinse it at least 10 times rather than just soaking it. Rinsing it (over an over again) gets rid of a lot of undesirable matter.

 

[Andyvette]

It could also be if you added it after the water was already in there (which I assume is what happened). What happens, is when you add wet or dry sand into a tank, it is like adding flour to water.... it bubbles up. Not saying this is what it is, but it could be just the sand forming into bubbles. a few days and it should go down.... IF that is what it is (not saying it is, but without pics, it is easily a posibility).

HTH,
Andy

 

[Zagz]

If you want to use sand that is cheap use pool filter sand. It can be used in fw aquariums and purchased at hardware and pool supply stores for around $10/50 lb bag.