Seeding live sand?

[Urban_s]

I am working on getting my 75 Gal up and running. I am going to use a DSB. But the problem is I dont really want to spend $200+ on live sand. Could I just order say 50 pounds or so then just put in some regular sand? I want really find sand too. Would the play or regular sand become just as good as the live sand?

[JediReefer]

Yes you can. Using a non silica sand like Old Castle or Yard Right. Its very cheap and can be found at home depot if your lucky.

WHAT IS THIS STUFF?

Southdown, Old Castle and Yardright are all distributors (or were) of the same thing - TROPICAL PLAY SAND.

If it says TROPICAL it is argonite sand from the exact same quarry as the $20 per little bag argonite sand at the LFS. From what I have read, there is only ONE place it is quarried, that is on a Key in the Caribbean.

"Regular" play sand is not "bad", but it is made of something else - silica. Silica is what the glass in your tank is made of, so it won't cause your water to turn brown (your glass does not do that, right?), or your animals to all die. HOWEVER - some of the inverts we all want in our DSB don't like the sharper grains of silica, and here is the important part, ONLY ARGONITE will buffer your tank's PH - forever. We lazy guys (and gals) like it when we don't have to worry about one less thing going bad in our tanks.

You don't want any silica sand that has any additives to it, like pesticides or fungicides for some garden applications. Read the bag, it will let you know (and the price will be higher) if it has any.

Any TROPICAL play sand that says "not for aquarium use" is just a contractual legal BS thing on there because CaribSea is the distributor of ALL agronite sand from this quarry for the aquarium trade.

A couple of pointy-headed guys did tests on tropical play sand and the Caribsea stuff. You can't tell the stuff apart under a microscope, they both look like little white balls of the same stuff. The silica sand looks like clear, sharp, shiny quartz, because it is quartz. Silica may also have trace amounts of tar in it, according to the pointy-headed guys.

IF IN DOUBT ABOUT IT, TEST IT IN VINEGAR. Argonite sand will foam up like alkaseltzer in the stuff. Silica will just sit there and do nothing.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Tropical play sand runs from $3.84 to $5.00 or so for a 50 pound bag. Caribsea runs from $12.00 to $25 for a 15 pound bag or so at the local fish store. I can't remember exactly how big the bag was, but it was small. I have found PETCO sells this stuff the cheapest. However, this is why you want the tropical play sand, it is the exact same stuff and is only a fraction of the cost. If you need 6 inches to cover a 150 gallon tank, you can see the reason so many people are looking for the tropical play sand.


HOW MUCH DO I NEED?

if you just want to buffer your tank or keep wrasse (or other burrowers happy and alive) an inch or two will be fine. In my experience, the ONLY way to keep burrowing wrasse happy and alive is on sand. I have kept "expert only" wrasse for 5 years (and counting) on sand, and let me tell you, 5 years ago, I was experienced, but no expert. I just knew to keep them on sand. You can stir this sand all up to get the nasty stuff out if you need too. Even five years later, there is still some silt from it.

DSB - Deep Sand Bed. 4-6 inches of sand. If you want more info on this, google it or search this site. Just don't stir the sand up, let it get all compacted. That is the point of the DSB. Your critters can stir up the top layer, but the common thread I have read is that you don't want major upset of the bed. This upsets the chemical process that go on in the DSB.

WHERE IS THIS STUFF?

Most, if not all, of the TROPICAL play sand on the market is sold in the North East USA. If you are south of VA, or west of Ohio, you may be out of luck. I have not found any outside of these areas.

HOW DO I GET THIS STUFF IN MY TANK?

ALL SAND, silica or argonite, will turn your tank milky for a bit with silt. This is not indicate the stuff is bad. There are ways around this. Prewash the stuff a couple of times in a bucket, use pantyhose to screen it, drop clumps of it in a PVC pipe to "pipe" it to the bottom of your tank, or use a ziplog bag to transport it down there. The silt is just the very fine particles of sand that are too heavy to just fall to the bottom. There are ways to minimize this silt, but no way to eliminate it. I also use a very fine mesh net to mechanically skim it off the surface. You can put a few extra powerheads in the tank to keep it in suspension longer and most will be deposited in your sump. Just don't point the powerheads at the sand - that would be bad. Putting it in your tank is easier if you don't have any animals in there, but it can be done to a fully stocked tank with fish and corals, you just have to be much more careful about the silt. DONT EVER JUST POUR IT FROM THE BAG INTO THE TANK WITH LIVE ANIMALS IN IT. Your fish will not like you, but should be fine, but your corals will get a heavy coating of silt, which may cause them to close up for too long, or produce massive amounts of mucus which may be toxic stuff depending on the coral. Stress is bad, and the silt will stress them, so don't do it - minimize the stress.

WHAT SHOULD I USE? SILICA OR ARGONITE?

Silica sand is just fine for your tank, however, ONLY argonite sand will buffer your PH because it disolves at PH 8.2. Even dolomite and crushed coral only disolve at PH 7.8, so, argonite sand is the BEST for keeping that PH stable and where you want it - at least 8. No muss, no fuss PH. I like that. I like that a lot. TROPICAL PLAY SAND is argonite sand at a fraction of the cost - you can put 6 inches in a 150 gallon tank and not even spend $30 to do it. Walk into a LFS and tell them you want to do a deep sand bed and you can see the $$$ in the clerks eyes. A lot of these guys get commissions. It can run into the hundreds of dollars.

If anything I have posted is known to be complete BS please correct me on it. This info is just what I have gathered over the past few days of searching the web and calling stores. Most of it I know to be true because I have been there, done that, and have the T-shirt to prove it.

Hope this helps anyone as confused as I was about TROPICAL PLAY SAND....

[Urban_s]

Thats some good info. I move in a few weeks.(lol about 10 blocks away). I am gunna set up my 75 then. I cant weight! Anyone know of a chain store that carrys argonite?

[inwall75]

Aragonite does NOT buffer to the degree that many of the experts advertise. Kontroversy, you are not wrong....you have done a great job of summarising the info out there. Unfortunately, most experts never discuss re-precripitation (sp??).

If your goal in having a DSB is merely nitrification/denitrification, a bacterium doesn't have a clue whether it's living on Aragonite or Silica. However, if you want to set up a mini-ecosystem (and there's nothing wrong with that), Silica sand is a bad idea because some animals don't like it's 'sharpness'. It's all in what you want.

Seeding sand with live sand is highly effective. The reproduction rate of a bacterium puts rabbits to shame.

[JediReefer]

Thats not my info, thats why I quoted it.

[powdertang05]

it worked in my tanks its cheap but for my show tank i liked the ultra fine Bahama white sand look nice i want to just play in my tank with this sand!

[coral reefer]

The live sand(Caribsea) on the market basically contains ordinary bacteria. Your best bet while saving money as well, because the live sand is very expensive is to go to your lps and have them give you a couple scoops of sand from an established mature tank. They shouldn't have a problem with doing that especially since they know you will be giving them business since you are setting up a tank and will need to stock it. Live sand from a mature tank will offer different types of bacteria etc. over and above what is offered in those so called bags of live sand sold at pet shops!
I would go with aragonite, especially oolitic(spherical). I would also look into Marine Biosediment, put out by Kent. It will facilitate rapid denitrification and release calcium, magnesium,strontium,potassium,carbonates and minerals into your water slowly. The average particle size is the same as natural reef sediment composition. I also like adding Mineral mud directly to either my refugium or my main tank. Now you can add it directly to your water or place it in your sand bed. It contains live marine bacteria chelated trace elements, iodine etc.