Sand?

[spoonman]

Pool Filter Sand is waaaaay better than PlaySand. Much less dust and easier to work with.

 

[BigJim]

Fishman, my play sand took a long time to completely settle. I thought I had gotten most of the dust out, but I was limited to using the kitchen sink sprayer to wash the sand and I wasn't very patient when doing it. I put the fish in afte a couple of days, but it took about a week for all the dust to settle or get filtered out. If your tank is freshwater, I'd think about replacing the sand again. Not 100% sure, but I would expect live sand to be aragonite based, which will raise your ph above where most freshwater fish are comfortable. Conversely, if the tank is saltwater, I'm not sure the play sand will buffer the ph level in the tank enough.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Aragonite is not required in a SW tank. Many use pool/play sand as a substrate without issue.

Google the brands of sand that your looking at. Each has an MSDS and details about particulate size, contents, etc. Personally I would think that play sand would be less dusty due to the harmful effects of silica on the human body and play sands intended use with children. Would seem big brother would mandate lowering the dust level. Of course non of that accounts for dust created through shipping, handling etc though that would happen with any type/brand