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Where and what sand to get?

Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Since it is highly recommended not to transfer an old sandbed, I will need fresh sand for my system when I move. I was one of the lucky people back in the day that filled the bottom of my tank with southdown. I loved the white look of it. After 2 hours of research on sand I am still not sure what to do. Kolorscape sand appears to be the old southdown, but sometimes passes the vinegar test and sometimes doesn't. Another opinion I found was that silica sand was not a problem, but the new sand appears to be pulverized rock rather than sand. After all the debating lots of people are still using it with what they call good results.

Where are you getting your sand from and what kind are you getting? Live sands can sure get pricey when you get into the big tanks and of course there is debate over "live" sand also. It just wouldn't fit the hobby if it wasn't controversial!

Taz
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
I got mine from one of our Sponser's the Hidden Reef. I forget the brand but it was 29 for a 40 pound bag. It looks nice.
 
D

danthemanj

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Speak to Will at Aquatic Obsessions. He will give you FREE advice and a great price on bulk quantities of sand (both live and aragonite)
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Ed is your sand really white? I've seen some pretty dark sand and I like the look of the lighter. How much of it did you have to buy?

Dan I am going to give will a call and see what he has to offer.

Thanks guys
Taz
 
J

jmckdvm

Guest
Are you familiar with Carib-Sea Sugar-Size Aragonite #00930? (30 lb bags). It is a nice white sand and the one I use and recommend.

Dr. Jim (Jim McKinley, DVM, Dipl.ABVP)
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I actually picked up 2 bags at the Reef yesterday. It was all they had for some reason. I need a few more.

Dr Jim. can you pm me a price on that sand
Thanks

Taz
 
C

calaxa

No it's not bad. It actually should be very good. It's just that in the old system, you will send ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate spikes when you disturb the sand bed. You also may be potentially releasing toxic gases that might have been trapped such as Hydrogen Sulfide, etc. When you transfer to the new system, it'll take a few days to sort back out and establish equilibrium as you have now oxygenated the anaerobic areas.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

personally I would not re-use (ALL) the sand from an established tank. I'd start a brand new bed of sand and take a cup of my old sand from my old tank to re-seed the new tank.

I don't even know if I would do this with a fellow-hobbyists' tank (take a cup of their established sand) unless I knew absolutely that they never dosed any chemicals/meds/copper etc. I know it's overkill in terms of being cautious - but of all things in this hobby - sand is probably the least expensive and I prefer not to introduce more variables/risk than I have to.

Good luck widebody!
 
D

dinissa

widebody said:
is it bad to re use sand from and old reef to new ?
sorry for the question
Click to expand...

I'm not pretending to be an expert, but this is what i did last year after i moved my 72GAL from Ohio. I kept about half of my deep bed without washing it, but instead i covered it by the new crashed coral. I remember doing research and finding this suggestion, but cannot give any reference at this point--it was a year ago. Results were better than i anticipated. Not only i didn't lose any of my livestock (i have a reef set-up) but growth was amazing. I'm moving again at the end of the month and will do the same this time. Are you interested in taking my leftovers? will give away a 5-gal bucket.
 
W

widebody

ok just wanted to know starting a new tank with new rock dry and uncure rock
i have 180 lbs of used sand that am trying to dry out and wash with ro water before putting into tank ...
was planing on getting 40lbs of live new sand to seed the old >
 
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