Does anyone know if there any shops in wellington that sell silica sand ? so something that is a light colour ? im sick of gravel, and dont want the grey sand that the plant places sell. do i need to go to a quarry or is beach sand ok ?

cheers

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Beach sand is not ok unless you want to risk pollutants or want pH to go up (crushed shells).

I bought my light (almost white) silica sand from Placemakers. The one in Lyall Bay doesn't stock it, but the one on Old Hutt Rd. (just past Animates) does.

They sell it in big bags for $30 bux but if you don't need that much, you may luck out and just get what you need and pay per kg. It looks great in the aquarium and is very fine.

I know a number of people who have used sand from their local beach with no problems. You just have to make sure there is not too much shell in it as it raises the pH. Perhaps it depends on where you live as to how polluted it is

i got our sand from the quarry at the local river, nice and clean. But that silica sand does look a lovely colour

Beach sand is not ok unless you want to risk pollutants or want pH to go up (crushed shells).

I bought my light (almost white) silica sand from Placemakers. The one in Lyall Bay doesn't stock it, but the one on Old Hutt Rd. (just past Animates) does.

They sell it in big bags for $30 bux but if you don't need that much, you may luck out and just get what you need and pay per kg. It looks great in the aquarium and is very fine.

i rang Placemakers in the old hutt road and the guy that answered said they didnt have any Silica sand - what a git - might have to take a ride down there tomorrow. how long ago did you get yours ?

cheers

I know a number of people who have used sand from their local beach with no problems. You just have to make sure there is not too much shell in it as it raises the pH. Perhaps it depends on where you live as to how polluted it is

one of our local beaches has really nice sand but yeah not sure about the polution levels - is there any way to check ?

Yeah, just go there...you just got someone that didn't know what they are talking about. I got mine in May. I know the guy also used another name for it which i can't remember, but he knew that it was also called silica sand. They have 2 buildings at the Hutt Rd location, one for the showroom and the other for the warehouse. If you go to the warehouse desk and describe what kind of sand that you want, someone there will point you in the right direction. They have their sands/gravels all along the back row...hard to explain. The back wall that is closest to the road outside...and the silica sand is in about the middle.

Here is a link to my old forum post to show you how the sand looks like: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=38727

And here is a link to when I was researching Silica sand and driftwood myself: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=38515

I think Wellington beaches are relatively clean (other then right in the harbour) compared to come places in Auckland, but they will have lots of tiny shell fragments that you can't necessarily remove. But that could be a good thing if you are wanting a more alkaline tank! I'm not sure how you'd check...maybe NIWA or Doc has some reports on it.

Here is a link to my old forum post to show you how the sand looks like: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=38727

And here is a link to when I was researching Silica sand and driftwood myself: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=38515

I think Wellington beaches are relatively clean (other then right in the harbour) compared to come places in Auckland, but they will have lots of tiny shell fragments that you can't necessarily remove. But that could be a good thing if you are wanting a more alkaline tank! I'm not sure how you'd check...maybe NIWA or Doc has some reports on it.

nice pic - seeing that makes me want to change form gravel to sand even more - how do you find cleaning it ? i know with the amount of fish i have now i find a lot of poo on the bottom of the tank esp from the 2 BNCatfish i have - messy little buggers.....i found some details about the pollution from the greater wellington council site http://www.gw.govt.nz/story1683.cfm? are those levels pretty high ?

Sample Date Parameter Analysed Result (n/100ml)

18-Aug-09 Enterococci Bacteria 110

Pollution levels never occurred to me when I was collecting beach sand :-?

Stones do not absorb anything so as long as it is washed thoroughly there shouldn't be a problem - unless the beach you collected from has oil or similar on it.

Well those are just measures for E.coli (aka. poo) and its below the alert level anyways. Not a prob, you can easily clean the sand of that.

I don't know about chemical pollutants and oil though. I don't imagine you wouldn't be able to clean it relatively well by rinsing and kneading the sand with your hands....I mean some rocks are porous but I really don't know how it works with sand and metals/chemicals in the water. Anything biological can be baked away in an oven!

I find cleaning the sand relatively easy, i either just siphon with a tube or use one of those gravel vac at an angle. You just have to be careful if you are using a tube to stay just above or you'll suck it up. The thing I notice is that you actually see the debris a lot more because it doesn't have anywhere to disappear into easily. It all pretty much sits on top so I find myself doing more frequent but smaller cleans. I also run my hand through the sand AFTER i vacuum it in case anything it trapped in there. I think the sand is gentler on my plant roots though...and my kuhli loaches LOVE it! They dig their little heads into it in search of food and i think its nicer for them to site on then some gravels.

Some plants will grow well in a sand mix with a little shell in it. Plants are like us---they all have different tastes.

i rang Placemakers in the old hutt road and the guy that answered said they didnt have any Silica sand - what a git - might have to take a ride down there tomorrow. how long ago did you get yours ?

cheers

I love the way that people assume that the guy at the shop must be wrong. I worked at placies (and other stores) for over 5 years and you can not expect them to know all the alternative names for a product.

Yes they sell sand and yes they have white sand but no they do not have silica sand. Silica sand needs to have partucular portions of silica and a lack of polutants (iron ore ect) so they can not sell it as silica sand because it is not tested.

As Aquilam_11 said ask at the trade sales counter (in the timber yard building) or ask one of the yardies they will show you what "builders sand", "plastering sand", "block laying sand", "leveling sand"...(i could keep going but I think the point has been made) they have and you can make your own decision as to what kind of sand you want.

I love the way that people assume that the guy at the shop must be wrong. I worked at placies (and other stores) for over 5 years and you can not expect them to know all the alternative names for a product.

Yes they sell sand and yes they have white sand but no they do not have silica sand. Silica sand needs to have partucular portions of silica and a lack of polutants (iron ore ect) so they can not sell it as silica sand because it is not tested.

As Aquilam_11 said ask at the trade sales counter (in the timber yard building) or ask one of the yardies they will show you what "builders sand", "plastering sand", "block laying sand", "leveling sand"...(i could keep going but I think the point has been made) they have and you can make your own decision as to what kind of sand you want.

thanks for the info everyone - i took a ride to placemakers on the old hutt road and found they do actually sell silica sand and it was even labelled as Silica sand - i guess i got one of the guys in the showroom rather than the trade section but its all good now...

If anyone in Welly is still looking for white silica sand, Placemakers on Hutt Rd have it in stock. In the timber shed on the right hand isle.