White White live sand needed

[badcop804]

I need about 25 lbs of live sand. It doesn't have to be anything great. I just need to fill in some low spots. I am looking for a good price and did I mention White White White. I thought about maybe doing the play sand thing... but I don't know if anyone has had luck with this or what type I would get.

 

[Bifferwine]

Play sand is an option that some people use to save money, but if you use play sand you run the risk of having lots of diatom outbreaks.

If you already have an established sand bed, then you don't need to use live sand to fill in the spots. Just use dry sand. It's much cheaper and will be seeded by your existing sand in no time, effectively becoming live.

 

[badcop804]

??? dry sand? where do I get that. I all ready have about 120 lbs of very expensive live sand in my tank. So I guess it would work.

 

[yote]

Your LFS should have a few bags of dry argonite sand.

 

[daugherty]

crib sea makes a good sand

 

[lightcs4]

I looked at play sand and found most of it isn't argonite (spelling?) sand. You could cause yourself some algae grief. Like others have mentioned, the LFS will usually sell 5, 10, or 20 lb bags of dry sand. Move the sand in your tank over, put in the dry sand and cover it with the live sand you moved. In time it will become live as well.

 

[badcop804]

thanks for the help everyone. I really appreciate (sp) it. This site is great, although it could use a spell checker. I can't spell for crap. Years ago I used saltwateraquariumguide forum but now its private. I'm glad I found you guys. I hope to help and become friends with everyone.

 

[RyanG]

Pavestone High Desert sand is sold at Home Depot and is 99% calcium carbonate(NOT SILICA)

 

[Bifferwine]

You can also get dry sand at chain pet stores like Petco or Petsmart.

 

[lightcs4]

thanks for the help everyone. I really appreciate (sp) it. This site is great, although it could use a spell checker. I can't spell for crap. Years ago I used saltwateraquariumguide forum but now its private. I'm glad I found you guys. I hope to help and become friends with everyone.

There is a spell checker you can add to your browser (at least in Mozilla Firefox). I t thought this site had one, but I don't see it now. Anyhow, if you use Firefox, just browse the add-ons.

 

[fatman]

Aragonite sands typically are light beige. If you want dazzling white then use silica sand, rinse it well, it will not cause appreciable long erm diatom algae growth. If it does cause a diatom growth the growth will clear up as soon as the free silicates are used up. Silica does not readily dissolve in reef water, it is one of the most stable (resistant to chemical weathering) rock that make up the surface cust of this planet. Randy Holmes-Farley has a good write up on silica usage in a reef aquarium. He is definitely the widest published chemist in the field of marine and reef tanks and their chemistry. Randy even gave supplemental doses of silica to his tank for a long period of time and well monitored the results of his tanks system/occupants silica usage. There are many more myths than facts spread about silica used/needed in marine/reef tanks.
The Randy Holmes-Farley write up on silica:
http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

 

[reeffreak]

All this talk about play,silica sand.

None of them have the buffering capacity of aragonite sand,either dry or live.Well worth the added cost,IMO.

 

[badcop804]

Thank you everyone for all your help. I decided not to go with the plays sand and I went and picked up 40 lbs of carib sea live sand from the LFS. I got it for about 80 cents a pound, tax included. My fish guy is pretty cool and loves the cash only sales. I read the artical fatman posted but i'm just too afraid of silica. Thanks again everyone.

 

[lightcs4]

At 80 cents a pound you got a great deal, in my opinion. It is over $2 a lb at my LFS for live sand.