Sand

[bertie 83]

Can I use soft builders sand in a f/w tank? Looking at a new setup and love the colour of this.

[bertie 83]

Any ideas?

[goldielocke76]

Sorry, I have no idea = / wish I did though.

Tons of people seem to be missing-- sevenyearnight, xrayjeeper, and reaperpilot. =( what's happening to everyone?

[bertie 83]

Who knows. We seem to be short of knowledge ATM. Hoping one of the old school pro's will help, I am not sure if it's colour will leach into the water column you see

[goldielocke76]

My assumption is, that if it's a natural color, it shouldn't bleed. But if it's been dyed, I would be careful, maybe so dyes can harm our puffs? Also, it looks super fine grained, might be a pita to clean at first, but I agree, from the google pictures, looks like a lovely substrate.

And yes, most def short on knowledge right now. Only Nuclear_Glitter responded to my post, and no one really has responded to yours. Hopefully peeps will come back soon. ^.^

[PolishPuff]

Is that it ?

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en ... 9,r:22,s:0

With cleaning it to "perfection" it should be OK. Ive used before: Play sand, Pool filter sand, Wisconsin river sand and now a sand that I bought at my LFS. All of them were rinsed and cleaned to the point that I probably lost 30% of the bad do to cleaning

[sgtmyers88]

Play Sand is safest and cheapest over here. It is $3.49 for a 50lb bag at ACE Hardware where I live.

[bertie 83]

Is that it ?

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en ... 9,r:22,s:0

With cleaning it to "perfection" it should be OK. Ive used before: Play sand, Pool filter sand, Wisconsin river sand and now a sand that I bought at my LFS. All of them were rinsed and cleaned to the point that I probably lost 30% of the bad do to cleaning

No not the sharp sand, this is soft and a much darker colour it looks real nice. Take a quick look on google images it the darker one

[RTR]

Sands fluctuate with location, especially those used in building - they are largely local sourced to cut transportation costs. It really is impossible to comment on localy collected materials.

Any sand not high in shell content canbe used in FW if well rinsed and clean. The safety will depend on it's not affecting the local water chemistry and on how much is used and how well it is maintained.

Generally larger grain sizes are safer so long as they are not sharp. Commonly the blasting sands and pool filter sands are most likely to be safe.

Generally minimizing the depth of the sand is also safer.

HTH

[Iliveinazoo]

I've used Kiln dried sand before because it doesn't tend to have sharp edges.

[Nuclear_Glitter]

When I research it it's not recommended, but no one really says why. Everyone just says "use play sand instead". Maybe you should just buy a small pack of the builder sand and put it in some water (after washing) and see if it produces any chemicals, smells, or colors.

[bertie 83]

Not a bad idea. How long should it be tested til deemed safe do you think?

[RTR]

"Safe for use" and "Good for aquarium use" are two very different things.

Whether or not sand affects the water profile/parameters is quite different from toxicity or from contamination.

Even inert and uncontaminated sand may cause issues if is not appropriately maintained.

[bertie 83]

Play sand it is then lol

[kcartwright856]

I haven't used it personally, but most people I've heard from say that play sand compacts a lot, and goes everywhere when you stir and clean it because it's so fine.

I love my pool filter sand, though. It's very easy to clean, doesn't go flying everywhere when you stir it, and it has the perfect grain size.