live sand

[Jolly]

I appreciate all the feed back on the "live sand". I think I will leave the "free" sand on the beach and just buy the aragonite sand a little at a time. It's still a little ways off, before I am ready for it anyway. I still need to recalk and get with Ace on building my sump.

[urban79]

dang with gas prices. Your not going to be saving to much.

[SoLiD]

dang with gas prices. Your not going to be saving to much.

Your not kidding.

-BTW if you are planning on having an internal overflow; take in to account that it takes up space in your tank and will lower the total bags of sand needed to acheive your mark. -SoLiD

[J_G]

Very illegal to take/"collect" anything from Padre Island National Seashore. Only fishing is allowed. This area is considered a preserve. Chances are you would not get caught, but if you do remember you are on federal property.

And you cant have a reef tank in prison. The cells are only 6x8.

[erikharrison]

Very illegal to take/"collect" anything from Padre Island National Seashore. Only fishing is allowed. This area is considered a preserve. Chances are you would not get caught, but if you do remember you are on federal property.

And you cant have a reef tank in prison. The cells are only 6x8.

Well you would have a comfortable sand "bed" to sleep on!

[caferacermike]

Very illegal to take/"collect" anything from Padre Island National Seashore. Only fishing is allowed. This area is considered a preserve. Chances are you would not get caught, but if you do remember you are on federal property.

And you cant have a reef tank in prison. The cells are only 6x8.

HHHHMMmmmmmm........ Is that the voice of experience??

You could fit a nice 30g cube or maybe even a 75/90 if your cellie will split it with you.

[matt]

My only problem with beach sand is that it is generally a terrestrial based product. Meaning it's made of quartz, silica, metals, etc... There will be no benefit to the aquarium itself besides aesthetics. With aragonite it is always reacting to the water changes and releasing stuff into the water like CA, moly, strntium, ALK, etc... This naturally buffers PH and helps keep it high and stable, keeps CA levels up, and helps prevent sudden ALK swings.

At normal tank ph (7.8-8.3) there is no evidence at all that aragonite provides any buffering to the tank. Now, if you kept your tank at calcium reactor ph, sure, you'd be dissolving aragonite for calcium and carbonate, but then you'd have a tough time keeping anything alive!