hi where is the best place to get white sand from?can you buy it at say mitre 10 or somewhere?what should i be looking for?

Speaking of sand, I stopped by a landscaping place and they had crushed lime, almost sandlike consistency and white. I didn't think to look very close but it was about $70/half cubic meter. how would that work for marine tank sand? At that price even if most of it washes away in rinsing and only leaves a small amount of usable substrate it would be cheaper than coral sand.

It will not be any good for marine tanks.

It may leach all sorts of garbage including lime, silicates, metals etc.

This will/may in turn create massive algae issues.

coral sand is the best as it is made of reef components....exactly what is required.

ok where can i get some coral sand?

I have had Hollywoods post it, pay by credit card or if you have a local store they should be able to get it in.

alot of people use aragonite. it is pure white, and helps buffer the water, limiting PH fluctuations. LFS have it.

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/d_warren_090797.html

http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1097/1097_5.html

are there any brands that are better than others?thanks

Would people recommend having a 50/50 mix (or other ratio) of aragonite and coral sand?

alot of people use aragonite. it is pure white, and helps buffer the water, limiting PH fluctuations. LFS have it.

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/d_warren_090797.html

http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1097/1097_5.html

Sand does little in the way of buffering. People assume it does because they notice that it dissolves over time. Bacteria are dissolving it, not for the benefit of everything else in the tank, but for themselves. It's a source of carbon for them.

Use whatever you think looks best. To me coral sand (3mm+ in diameter) looks best.

It may leach all sorts of garbage including lime, silicates, metals etc.

Some people use all those as supplements. They're not necessarily "garbage".

I hydrated lime to my tank everyday!

That's what I was thinking. If it's not too contaminated why would it be bad? It's just one form of calcium...And if it does dissolve fairly quick there are advantages to that too.

Might be a silly question, but is there a reason why you wouldn't use the sand from a beach?

unwanted particles in the substrate

Might be a silly question, but is there a reason why you wouldn't use the sand from a beach?

Depends who you ask.

Some say: Because it's usually silica based and will cause algae.

Others say: No, it won't cause algae

Some say: It doesn't have enough surface area for bacteria and other sand bed creatures.

Others say: It does too have enough surface area and sand bed critters live just fine in it.

Some say: It's full of poisons and toxins and pollution because it comes from the ocean.

Others say: Yeah, so does most everything we put in the tank and I don't see any 3 eyed tangs.

Some say: It's ugly and unnatural.

Others say: Most coral reefs don't even have much sand and it looks fine.

Some say: Sand is a timebomb, go DSB.

Others say: Go with whatever you like the looks of.

Anyway, there's no huge reason to not use sand from the beach, give it a good rinse and give it a try if you like the looks of it. But it's not like you're getting free live sand. Consider it dead sand.

People confuse silica SiO2 (sand) with silicate SiO4 (used in exoskeletons of diatoms and other critters).

Silica is quite insoluble relative to silicates (in general). Beach sand (silica) is no more responsible for diatom blooms than what the glass of your aquarium is (which is made from a substantial amount of silica sand).

So beach sand is fine, if you can stand the colour of it. I much prefer the bright white of carbonate sand personally.

Like Ira said, if you use beach sand try and wash as much of the "foreign bodies" out of it as possible.

Layton

Compositionally, any substrate you choose is almost certain to be made of aragonite or calcite. Both are forms of calcium carbonate, but arguably aragonite is to be favored for it’s better solubility and buffering capacity in seawater (providing necessary bio-minerals, buffering pH, and supporting calcification). Aragonite can begin to dissolve, in fact, at a high pH over 8.0 (a still safe level for marine life), while calcite does not readily dissolve until the pH falls well below 8.0. This means that calcite is not likely to impart any significant benefits (buffers/alkalinity) into the water until the pH falls to a level that is too dangerous for most marine life. In this regard, the old argument of dolomite & crushed coral versus non-calcareous freshwater "gravel" for marine aquariums in the early days was a moot point (they were all calcite).

Might be a silly question, but is there a reason why you wouldn't use the sand from a beach?

I've used beach sand with no negatives had it in a tank for around 2 years. Heckuva lot cheaper than coral sand, it can be surprisingly expensive to buy sand for a tank.

Actually I've used 2 kinds of beach "sand". One being just basic sand, had to wash thoroughly and if you use this go with a fairly thin layer as someone already said it is dense, and hard to clean.

The other was actually crushed shell, this can sometimes be found on certain spots at the beach, I just sifted to the size I wanted, it looked pretty good in the tank too. In fact if I went back to sand that's probably what I'd do. It's not white, more a golden brown, but does look nice.

Would people recommend having a 50/50 mix (or other ratio) of aragonite and coral sand?

Im running a 50/50 mix and it looks like coral sand to me.

Some people use all those as supplements. They're not necessarily "garbage".

I hydrated lime to my tank everyday!

You know what I mean Layton, everybody knows that NZ sand is not recommended.

People confuse silica SiO2 (sand) with silicate SiO4 (used in exoskeletons of diatoms and other critters).

Silica is quite insoluble relative to silicates (in general). Beach sand (silica) is no more responsible for diatom blooms than what the glass of your aquarium is (which is made from a substantial amount of silica sand).

So beach sand is fine, if you can stand the colour of it. I much prefer the bright white of carbonate sand personally.

Like Ira said, if you use beach sand try and wash as much of the "foreign bodies" out of it as possible.

Layton

I think it will still leach silicates in onme form or another which in turn will turn into silicic acid causing diotom blooms.

I wouldnt use it, it may also leach Iron which is not in a natural reef environment.

Coral reefs are used to being around coral sand , like snapper are used to hanging around at rangitoto island!

Best to keep them where they belong IMO, that way you know you will be all good.

just my opinion. each to there own!