Aragonite Sand - Do you have to change it out eventually?

[sobersteve323]

I've read on some sites that you will eventually have to change out aragonite sand. Is this true? If so, I was hoping someone could explain why you would need to.

Thanks.

[melosu58]

No you dont have to change out your sand. Just keep it clean with a clean up crew. I have never changed mine. IMO you do not need to.

[ccCapt]

I agree. No reason to change it out.

[Gti_Leo]

you don't have to change it but over time it might disintegrate from releasing calcium into the water so you might have to add more but that will take a long long time

[EriksFish315]

Just a question how longs a long long time? My buddy has had his sand for years and never added any.

[Reef79]

Do not change ur sand in most tanks your sand is most of your biological filter mine is 12 years old never changed it not had any issues

[Gti_Leo]

Originally Posted by EriksFish315

Just a question how longs a long long time? My buddy has had his sand for years and never added any.

who knows how long a long long time lol thats why i said a long time how else do you think it buffs the PH and helps maintain calcium and alkilinity. it has to release its own elemental compounds

[sobersteve323]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was asking mainly in the 10 plus year range. I'm assuming the site I read it on was implying that it would eventually dissolve but I wasn't sure. Been trying to find the site I was reading but my Google skills aren't working this afternoon lol

[EriksFish315]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the biological aspect of things.

[ccCapt]

Originally Posted by Gti_Leo

who knows how long a long long time lol thats why i said a long time how else do you think it buffs the PH and helps maintain calcium and alkilinity. it has to release its own elemental compounds

Long long time as in never.
It does not dissolve therefore it does not help maintain anything....unless you are talking about using it in a freshwater system. For the sand to start to dissolve the pH must be 7.3 or lower and you won't see that in a saltwater system.

[Gti_Leo]

still dissolves. our water doesn't give 8 PH on its own

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

Long long time as in never.
It does not dissolve therefore it does not help maintain anything....unless you are talking about using it in a freshwater system. For the sand to start to dissolve the pH must be 7.3 or lower and you won't see that in a saltwater system.

Actually you can, if you have a properly set-up and maintained DSB. The anaerobic zone of the DSB not only lacks oxygen, but also has a lower pH.

@ the OP there has been some discussion recently in regards to aragonite sand and LR binding phosphates over time and then slowly releasing those phosphates back into the aquarium. I've not seen any actual research on this particular topic myself, so can't give you any idea of how accurate or inaccurate that idea may be.

[ccCapt]

Aquarium Chemistry: Calcite, Aragonite, Limestone, and More — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
"It's been said a million times that aragonite helps buffer aquarium water, or helps maintain calcium concentrations, while other (carbonate) substrates do not. However, to the best of my knowledge this simply isn't true.
I have yet to see any solid evidence that using aragonitic materials provides any advantage over using calcitic materials in an aquarium. And, in the words of the chemist-aquarist-author Randy Holmes-Farley "calcium carbonate will not dissolve in the water column of normal marine aquaria". Some may dissolve within a deep sand bed where water chemistry changes from the top of the bed to the bottom, but this is unlikely to have any significant effect on overall water quality."

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

Aquarium Chemistry: Calcite, Aragonite, Limestone, and More — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
"It's been said a million times that aragonite helps buffer aquarium water, or helps maintain calcium concentrations, while other (carbonate) substrates do not. However, to the best of my knowledge this simply isn't true.
I have yet to see any solid evidence that using aragonitic materials provides any advantage over using calcitic materials in an aquarium. And, in the words of the chemist-aquarist-author Randy Holmes-Farley "calcium carbonate will not dissolve in the water column of normal marine aquaria". Some may dissolve within a deep sand bed where water chemistry changes from the top of the bed to the bottom, but this is unlikely to have any significant effect on overall water quality."

Originally Posted by ccCapt

Long long time as in never.
It does not dissolve therefore it does not help maintain anything....unless you are talking about using it in a freshwater system. For the sand to start to dissolve the pH must be 7.3 or lower and you won't see that in a saltwater system.

Thank you for proving my point, to say that you won't see aragonite sand dissolve in a saltwater system is an incorrect statement. The value of the sand dissolving in regards to its effect on water bufferring is certainly debatable - although I would argue that if any dissolves it is obviously going to have some impact. That impact may or may not be negligiable dependent upon the size of the aquarium, the overall volume of the DSB, and the quantity of sand which is dissolved.

One thing I've learn in the my years in this hobby is any time you use words like never, you are almost always going to be incorrect. Extremes seldom hold true in this hobby.

[ccCapt]

We can argue back and forth but it's senseless IMO. The pH might drop low enough in sandbeds 6" or deeper. Not sure how many people have sand beds that deep. What little may dissolve will super saturate the water in that small locale and will precipitate back into a solid.

But if you want to get tehcnical, I should have said unless you have a 6" or deeper sand bed, you won't see the sand dissolve, and if you do have a sandbed that deep, some may dissolve but you won't see any difference in your parameters.

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

We can argue back and forth but it's senseless IMO. The pH might drop low enough in sandbeds 6" or deeper. Not sure how many people have sand beds that deep. What little may dissolve will super saturate the water in that small locale and will precipitate back into a solid.

But if you want to get tehcnical, I should have said unless you have a 6" or deeper sand bed, you won't see the sand dissolve, and if you do have a sandbed that deep, some may dissolve but it won't make any difference in your parameters.

Thanks Larry, wasn't trying to create an argument, simply pointing that, as is often the case in this hobby, using absolutes is seldom accurate. Some will say never get this this because it nips or kills corals, others will say I've had one for years with no issues.

Like yourself, I don't know how many people have DSB of 6" or over. Around here they are fairly common, but I do understand that in many areas they are becoming less and less common. With some of the new (albeit limited) research out on the effectiveness of even a SSB at removing some nitrates from the system I know that many feel the risk of the release of toxic sulfate gases into the system far outways the benefits of keeping a DSB.