marinefish2000

I live near about an hour's drive away from the Gulf of Mexico. Because of this I was thinking of using the sand from the beaches and the water from the gulf for my aquarium. The beach sand is not calcium based, and I was wondering if this would be a problem in maintaining pH. Also, water around Texas does not compare to water in Fiji or any other place due to industrial plants, but the water isn't poisonous. It's just not as clean. I plant to raise damselfish, no more than 5. Is using sand from the beach and water from the gulf okay? I will have a 55 gallon aquarium.

Thanks.

Mike

I wouldn't do it. A good aragonite based sand can be very beneficial to your saltwater aquarium. It may (depends on pH) slowly dissolve, releasing beneficial nutrients to your tank. The artificial salt mixes are really good nowadays and buying the salt mix and mixing your own water is not that expensive. And you have peace of mind versus bringing in water of questionable content from the gulf. Not to mention that it will probably be illegal to remove sand from the beach.

Maintaining pH can be done with kalkwasser slow drip top-offs and regular water changes.

marinefish2000

Thanks for the thought. I'll have to check the legal status about that sand removing being illegal or not. Obviously, I don't want to commit illegal acts.

inuyasha_lover_21

Also you have to watch out for pollutants and bad bacteria that may kill the fish

marinefish2000

thanks. I will assume it is illegal to remove sand from the beaches for my safety. I did have a friend who has sucessfully used the water from the Gulf of Mexico in a 75 gallon marine aquarium. He sucessfully kept sea aneomenes in his reef tank too. However, the aneomenes were from the Gulf of Mexico... . I might use Gulf waters, it isn't lethal or anything of that sort. Most likely I'll mix my own water, depending on how my water quality tests run on Gulf waters. Thanks.

EDit:: live sand is just silicon dioxide sand but from the ocean floor (not the abyss) with microorganisms, right? Thanks.

Newtankdude

I DEFINITELY would not! You should buy sand from the store and either mix purified water with a marine salt solution (thats What I do) or buy premixed water from the store. I live 10 minutes away from the Gulf of Mexico and here in Florida, we get red tide. If you get red tide were you live, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use the water. The red algae from red tide pollutes the water and kills fish. Your fish would be dead in hours if not minutes! If the water doesn't contain red tide then it's still illadvised because of diseases and parasites that are dangerous to your fish.