sand

[chewieee]

Whats a cheap sand alternative to buying Live argonite sand?

[ihopss]

Play sand will work,you need to clean it first.

[usmc121581]

Me personally I would never put something in my tank that wasnt in the ocean to start. But I keep hearing about a sand at homedepot thats safe.

[masonicman]

Y cut corners. Trust me........... do it right the first time. It will save you alot of money in the long run

[AJ69]

I have had the play sand from HD for almost 2yrs and so far no problems at all.Just rinse it very well before use.

[chewieee]

got some pictures

[stevedola]

read an article bby RHF and his test show that the play sand does infact leach silicate into the surrounding water.

buy the real deal sand (doesnt have to be live) and dont bother with those silicate play sands.

[LobsterOfJustice]

The alternative to live aragonite is dry aragonite. Silica sand works too, and is cheaper, but is not the best option. Dont cheap out, its a one-time purchase, just do it right.

[stevedola]

cant seem to find the article i read last week but the test was done on silica play sand where the vial was allowed to sit with purified water and silica sand at the bottom and after some time the silicates disolved into the water.

[chewieee]

anyone have link to bulk dry argonite

[useskaforevil]

buying play sand is not cheaping out. people who pay for agronite are chumps, and people who buy live sand are even ...chumpier? there is a huge difference between cutting corners, and throwing money away. and even if it does leach silicates into the water. which i noticed there was no link to the article your talking about. and how come so many people have success with silica sand? i can tell you its not my delicate husbandry techniques.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Yes, it is cheaping out. The sand on coral reefs is aragonite, not silica. The silica sand is sharper, which is not preferred for sand sifting gobies. There was a thread a while ago with magnification pics to back it up. No one prefers silica sand, they just buy it because its cheaper. That is called cheaping out. Leaching silica is debatable... I would not expect it to be significant after rinsing, but maybe it could be.

Aragonite will give you that nice white look most people shoot for. Silica is off white - yellowish or brownish. You will notice it in a side-by-side comparison.

[nemonick84]

I wouldn't call it "cheaping out" rather responsible money management. You save money that can be put toward something of greater importance for your tank, ie. a more efficient protein skimmer. The only real benefit of aragonite is that it naturally buffers the pH in your tank - bringing it to an optimal level. This, however, certainly isn't the only way to attain an optimal pH level.
As far as the issue of silica sand being too sharp for sand-dwelling species- I'm not at all convinced. I'm unsure of the effect on Gobies so I can't really comment there, but I'm not sure why they would be more affected than any other fish/invert that ingests a certain amount of sand.
There's a member on here whom I believe is a marine bio student studying in Hawaii whose professor, and several other notables within the marine community, conducted several studies on various sand types and composition . The study concluded that silica sand, after being introduced to a marine environment, harbored just as much life as the native aragonite sand. In some cases, the silica sand actually contained more life than the aragonite. It seemed that the shape and "sharpness" of the silica sand played no role in limiting the various fauna that existed within it.
I know that this is simply hearsay without a link and also provides little insight into how this sand type affects sand-sifting fish, but if it's of any consolation the member displays a signature written in Hawaiian.... I think.
I use silica sand from HD in my tank and to date have had no problems whatsoever. The tank has been operational for 2 years now. In my refugium I use a mixture of both silica and aragonite so that I can offer the system somewhat of a natural buffering agent. I can tell you I saved a fair chunk of money going this route. Creating a DSB in a 120G tank would've been a pretty hefty price had I gone with the aragonite. With the money I saved I was able to invest in better equipment.

HTH and good luck.

Nick

[nemonick84]

BTW, my silica sand is bright white. It looks better than almost all aragonites I've seen available for purchase.

[stevedola]

does the ocean have silica sand? oh wait...no it doesnt.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Well, to be honest, it does in many places, but not in tropical reef areas where our corals and fish come from.

[samtheman]

Originally posted by stevedola
cant seem to find the article i read last week but the test was done on silica play sand where the vial was allowed to sit with purified water and silica sand at the bottom and after some time the silicates disolved into the water.

Does aquarium glass dissolve too?

[stevedola]

what process does the play sand go through that makes it glass?

[samtheman]

Originally posted by LobsterOfJustice
Well, to be honest, it does in many places, but not in tropical reef areas where our corals and fish come from.

Volcanic materials such as the black sand beaches in Hawaii are silica.

[LobsterOfJustice]

"Beaches in Hawaii may be made of 'black sand' derived from the erosion of volcanic rocks, of 'white sand' made by marine organisms, or a mixture of both. On the windward side of the Big Island, for example, black sand beaches are very common. The beach at South Point is almost entirely green sand composed of olivine, a common mineral found in the volcanic rocks here in Hawaii. On the Kona coast of the Big Island and on the other islands, the beaches have a range of mixed compositions, some with a high volcanic (detrital) component, some dominated by calcareous (reef-derived) sediment. Beach and submarine sands in Kailua Bay on windward Oahu (my research area) are almost entirely composed of calcarous, reef-derived material. On average, only about 5% of the sand grains are volcanic minerals or rock fragments. Every beach is unique and has its own source and type of sediments."

From:
http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl/sand.php

And regarding the comparison of sand to glass: Yes, they both contain silica, but they have very different molecular structures. Coal and diamonds are both carbon...

Also, when glass is made, other chemicals are added in which make it easier to work with, lower the melting temperature, make it stronger, and make it resistant to dissolving. Silica will dissolve in seawater - seawater is undersaturated in silica.