Quote Originally Posted by caferacermike
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!