Quick! Corpus Christi

[smelleybrad]

I'm on my way to the beach and want to know if I get a little bit of sand for my tank will this be bad or good. What about liitle rocks and things I find?

[Tim Marvin]

I have 3 gobies from the gulf. Very cool, but a little aggressive.

[smelleybrad]

What kind? How did you catch them?

[Tim Marvin]

A friend of mine caught them on a jetty. He said he just took a large fish net with him and when the waves came in he scooped through the water and brought out all kinds of stuff.

[StephenA]

I have that sand in my tank, It works fine.

[smelleybrad]

Sounds like fun. I'm on the way.

If anybody else has any imput or knows the law on this matter please call me so I won't get in trouble. My cell is 210-269-0687.

[don-n-sa]

Buy a weekend fishing license and you shouldn't get into trouble. :)

[cvonseggern]

I know that collecting non-cultured live rock is illegal in US waters...not sure what the law says about sand. Best bet is probably to just be discreet about it. I'd be more worried about contamination...it's not like Corpus is the most pristine beach in the world.

[DeAngelove]

Sand is fine... don't even need a fishing license for it! I wouldn't take the stuff on top... but that's me. ;)

[smelleybrad]

Well I got a whole trash bucket full of sand. I have about 40lbs or more left over if anybody wants it. When I put the sand in the tank I sure did get alot of this bubbly residue floating on top. Is this normal?

[StephenA]

Yeah, that's normal.

[MikeDeL]

Did you get anything else or just sand? Where did you collect it from? Was it from the beach or in the water?

[smelleybrad]

I got alot from the dunes. Then is a couple of 5 gallons I walked as far as I could in that freezing water and got some.

I also fould some kind of pink stringy thing and a couple of tiny green looking crabs. I have no idea what kind they are.

[6LINE]

I always wondered if the beach sand would do good in a reef tank. When i go down to Port A. I like to go out to the sand bar and dig up sand dollars. Does anyone know if those would be any good in a tank? I am sure that you would need a fine sand bed like Caribsea's sugar size or Southdown. But i never thought about putting them in a tank until i read this thred.

[MikeDeL]

I think I remember someone posting that they had added sand dollars before and that they where ok. When I was down there last July there were TONS of them as soon as you hit the water. How far out is the sand bar there?

[6LINE]

Not very far. Maybe 20-30 Ft. depending on the tide. I would think they would Be excellent sand janitors. But i don't know how deep they 'burrow'.

[smelleybrad]

I'm not to sure. I walked out at least 75 yards but it was just to cold. I couldn't find hardly any little critters though. It must still be to cold or something. The water temp was 67.

[tgray]

Anyone ever collect in the Brownsville area?

[C.Mydas]

Ive got sand dollars. Great little buggers, come out at night and cruise the sand. You should probably run your tank a little cold for them though...I think they are a cold water critter.

[DeAngelove]

Aww...are we going to do another MAAST meeting @ the beach this year? It was alot of fun last year... ;) Plus, I want an excuse to go to the beach for the weekend! ;)

DAB

[Polkster13]

Sounds good to me. Just don't make it during the week of July 9th through the 17th as I will be in Panama City, Florida on a youth retreat for our church. I am thinking either June or August might be a perfect time.

Let's start making plans now.

[eric]

I've got a lot of sand in my tank and sump from Padre. I've just dug it up right at the water. I get lots of the little clams or mussels which die off in pretty short time. We also caught a tiny pipefish in sargassum once. He disappeared in short time also.

And we've got a few clams still alive after collecting off a rig a year ago. Not as pretty as the giant clams, but interesting nonetheless and I figure they give me some filtering qualities.

[smelleybrad]

I have to admit, that sand is very pretty and almost white. I had to get a lot of debris out of it but I'm really impressed! It settles down real quick to once stirred up. I think it was well worth the trip. I'll be going back probably once a month to take tohe boys fishing so if any body needs a trash can full just let me know.

[MikeP]

I am going to take a trip down there to do some fishing / collecting in April. Still have a bunch of the stuff I got last trip.

[FSU]

There are a LOT of articles saying not to use the sand at the beach. They refer to the pollution that gets washed up with the tide as well as absorbent of "natures own protein skimmer". Hence the foam you see along the waters edge.

I haven't heard anything on using beach sand. I have thought about that before as well as getting "live" sand from the waters edge. They say to go out at least a few miles for live sand. I couldn'yt find too much info on regular beach sand, but didn't try real hard either!

[DeAngelove]

When/where are you going down in April, Mike?

[smelleybrad]

For those that don't have a boat, I can rent a little center console boat from the MWR building behind my house. If a few people wanted to pitch in we could make a day of fishing out there and getting things. The boats are preety cheap. Like $65 a day or something. I have a truck to pull it to. I'm just not to familiar with that area. Just let me know and we could have a lot of fun. By the way, MWR is Morale, Welfare, and Recreation for the Army.

[grimwulff]

You can count me in, although I'm mostly familar with Galveston and Red Fish Bay (seagrass beds). I've spent alot of time collecting around Galveston (semi-professionally) and have a lot of varius equipment.
Rufus
512-446-7931
Rockdale, TX

[GaryP]

Rufus,

Check the date of this thread. Its a year old. Check Bigbird's post. We have another trip coming up for this summer.

BTW, welcome to MAAST.

[hobogato]

rufus - you are about a year too late. brad is long gone. ;) :D

BTW - welcome to MAAST!

[BIGBIRD123]

Rufus,
Welcome to MAAST. Try to follow my post :

http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=17956

We will post undates and info as it becomes avaliable. Once again, welcome and hope to see you there.

Steve