lmatthews

I read a lot about adding beach sand to my tropical tank and 90/100 people assume it to be a bad idea. I decided to grab a bucket load of the stuff and have changed the water regularly. I even added aquarium water ( when I do the water changes ) to this bucket to introduce bacteria of my own. It has now been 3 months. Is my sand safe yet ?

Lucy

Hi Welcome to Fish Lore.

I hope you don't mind, I've moved your thread to the section of the forum where your question should get more attention.

I'm not 100% positive but I doubt adding beach sand to a tropical tank is a good idea.
Besides the salt content, it could be filled with mico organisms that wouldn't be healthy for your fish.

There are another members who will have more thorough info for you.
In the mean time, I'm pretty sure this question has been asked before, so you might want to try the search feature.

Good luck and enjoy the forum!

angelfish220

beach sand as in sand from the beach, that you got yourself? I wouldn't add that.

If its beach sand as in bought from a store, then go ahead and enjoy!

AND........


WELCOME TO FISHLORE

lmatthews

thanx for the warm welcome guys. As I am new to this, I really do appreciate it.

capekate

hello and welcome to fishlore
Angelfish220 had a very valid question and the answer to that would really determine if it is a good idea to add 'beach' sand to your aquarium.
If you did plan on getting the sand from your local beach, then as Lucy suggested its not a good idea. The sand is dirty.. full of micro organisms and also full of salt. I can only imagine what else is in the sand, if I look around at my own beach there is no way I would add that to any of my tanks.
Your question would be best answered if we knew whether you were in fact looking at getting beach from your local area, or buying clean beach sand from a store?
thanks ahead for any clarification on this..

soldieroffortune1974

I of course will have to disagree with everyone,saying not to use beach sand.Where do you think the beach sand comes from,that is sold at the stores? Where does the play sand come from.Pool filter sand? The stores have to get it from somewhere,and it's generally from someone who has scooped it up from somewhere else.

With proper cleaning,it would be fine.Proper cleaning being the key phrase.

Mix the sand in a water and bleach solution to kill micro-organisms. Rinse well in dechlorinated water.Sift out debris while rinsing.Fill bucket with dechlorinated water and let stand for 24 hours. Check salinity level,if salinity level is high,keep running water circulating through bucket/container.Let stand for 24 hours.Check salinity level.Repeat until salinity level is safe,or non-existant.

****Note****some fish can tolerate larger amounts of salt,than others and some fish can't tolerate any salt.

*********caution*********ensure that area where you get sand is fee of pesticides.Some chemicals will bond with the sand and not wash out

With those 2 things in mind,ensure everything is properly cleaned,and put it in the aquarium.

Welcome to Fishlore

capekate

All well and good SOF, but unfortunately a lot of folks just are not going to do as professional a job of cleaning the beach sand as a manufacturer would, and that is why the caution against using it. Beach sand in a bag does not cost much money at all and I for one would rather recommend that then the unprocessed beach sand that is on our local beaches with god only knows what kind of junk is mixed in with it.
If one were to follow exactly the recommendations above in your post then I am sure it would be ok to use,but I would still be very cautious of using it.

soldieroffortune1974

I would agree capekate,as long as caution is used. I just hate giving money to manufacturers and stores,when they use the very thing,that the 'experts' say not to use. I also know the manufacturers have 'experts' that tell untruths about certain things to increase the demand for their product.Everything they tell you not to use,miraculousely they have just the product you're looking for. It just goes to what and who you trust.

I of course do not trust anyone to do a better job for my aquariums than myself. The manufacturers and stores are doing it for the money. I do it because it's my passion.

Angela_96

I think it would be okay as long as you follow SOF's way of treating the sand before you put it in the tank, and make sure you do sterilize the sand and be cautious of the salt content.

I put local lake/river rocks in my mbuna tank, I go through a process of scrubbing the rocks, soaking them in bleach, and boiling them to clean them (repeating the steps a couple of times).

spider_pig

I like the idea, after all, it's free!

Lucy

Guess I'm lazy. I'd rather spend a few bucks than to go through all that trouble.

lmatthews

well guys and girls. after reading all your opinions I decided to chuck the stuff into my flower pots. id rather play it safe when it comes to my fishies. even though I wasted 3 months of cleaning, i've definitely gained some more insight into having a cool idea and actually exicuting it. I also realised that we're having this chat from opposite sides of the world so please don't take offense to late responses.

GreenMan13

Some of the sand you buy comes from the mountains and not the beaches by the way. They just grind up a big rock until it is very fine sand.

For cleaning beach sand though. Another way would be to boil it for a while instead of using bleach (don't know how long this would take to kill everything though). Might be better then bleach as you wouldn't have the chance of leaving any bleach in the sand. Probably not any different though as you would need to still rinse the sand very well after to get all the salt out of it.

Jess

Has anyone ever considered putting the sand in a hot oven and letting the heat kill any remaining organisms?

pinkfloydpuffer

I'm planning on using beach sand in my tank, but it is going to be midbrackish and eventually SW... and bleaching/boiling was in my plan already...

GreenMan13

I imagine this should work too.

tom28

it wont nessesarily work, some types of gram positie bacteria can make endospores when put in unfavorable conditions even extream heat for an extended preiod of time cannot kill them. though if that doesnt neither will boiling water and really bleach as unfavorable as it sounds might be the only way unless for some reason you have access to an autoclave or anther form of high energy radiation...

cerianthus

Lots of opinions!!!
As long as they are well rinsed and left soaking in tap water and rinse again and again, Why not use in F/W if thats what you want. Personally will stay away from sand for few reasons.
1. Should not go too deep w/ sand: denitrification might occur w/ deep sand bed
2. Can not vacuum as easily as gravel

No bleach is needed. After soaking in F/W, can even Sun Dry (UV rays will do some good). S/W microbes will die off in F/W anyways when given enough time due to differences in Osmotic Pressure/Diffussion Gradient.

Just soak and rinse and soak and rinse w/ tap water.