Bomix (white play sand) and Southdown (OldCastle) ok for sand bed ?

[BigShot]

Dr. Ron, I wonder if these two are ok to put into the tank as sand. Some people say they might leech some bad substances into the tank.

Thank you,
Luke

[rshimek]

Hi Luke,

I don't know anything about Bomix sand. Some sands contain soluble minerals, and those could cause problems. Do you have any information about what is in this type of sand?

[BigShot]

For Bomix sand:
http://maskcanada.org/bomix_southdown/
http://www.bomix.ca/produits.php?lang=en&cat=sable&prod=sable_jeu_bla

How about Southdown/Old Castle ? Is that known to have any bad chemicals or would you use it ?

Thank you,
Luke

[rshimek]

Hi Luke,

Neithr of the links gives any indication of constituents.

A lot of folks use a type of Southdown sand. Personally, I wouldn't use it. I don't like the looks and it is a bit coarse, but there is nothing in its constituents that would be a problem.

[romunov]

I suggest you do a search on the forum about sothdown and spare a few hours. A lot has been said about it, you can PM people who have it, etc.
I think I saw a thread about southdown in 'new to hobby' about different kinds of it. You might want to check that out too.