play sand?

[Brandon8521]

Ok so i have been able to talk the wife into changeing the easter egg gravel out for some sand and i picked up a bag of play sand it has a deep tan color which i kinda like maybe mix in a little crushed coral in the future. My ? is that i will be makeing this a FOWLR tank in the distant future and right now without anything to raise my ph other then the salt mix, will this sand be ok? Right now my ph stays at 7.8. I know that the live rock and when i add a little crushed coral to the substrate it will raise the ph but is the ph really a issue with this kinda tank? will it need to be at marine levels to grow coraline algea?

[J-P]

if FW I'd go with it... SW ..????

[Brandon8521]

I know its a great deal for fw with the price and all. I dont have any ententions of doing corals at all too. Just some coraline algea and some macro algea if my GSP doesnt dimollish it.

[zombiefetus]

I used playsand in my 55gallon SW tank when I had it set up. I had no problems with it at all, just make sure you rinse it out really well.

[Brandon8521]

Thnx, I like the look of it since i will be doing a kinda estuarian theme with a bed of live rock instead of a wall of it. I thought about useing the mud you can buy for tanks but its way to expensive. I wish i still lived in charleston sc and i would have just went and collected my own. One of my concernes that hasnt been addressed yet is do coraline algea and macro algea require the high end ph that reefs do? Or will a ph of around 8.0-8.2 (my guess of what it will be with the live rock and extra marine salt) be ok.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Don't forget to check that it wasn't treated with antifungal/antibacterial stuff.

[Brandon8521]

This stuff isn't treated with anything and it contains no solicits. It's just plain sand. I would think that all play sand would be completely natural considering solicits are concidered to cause respiratory problems and possibly cancer, and antifungals and antibacterials could cause reactions with little kids.

[cobra1713]

Not exactly sure about how it effects Ph cus my PH is perfect out the tap lol but i have used playsand in both my 30gal GSP tank which has gone between 1.018-1.022 over the last few months. (trying to decide on brackish or sw, finally decided brackish lol) and also in my old 10g nano reef with a sg of 1.026 perfectly, grew corals fine.

[Brandon8521]

Well it's in my tank know and i really like the look of it ill try to post a b4 and after pic tomorrow or something. The water is still a little cloudy but clearing up noticably in the last 4 hours. I will be testing my ph after may 2nd since thats when i get back from my 2 week drill and see if it changes i dont think it will from all the stuff i have read. But thanx for all the info guys and gals.

[cobra1713]

Yea mine stayed cloudy for quite a while after putting it in but did clear up.

[Dadof4]

Add some polishing pads or dense filter floss and it will speed up the removal of the cloudiness.

[Brandon8521]

I baught some filter floss and when i got home it was looking way better so ill just use it when i need it some other time. It really wasnt that cloudy just enough to make the dark blue background look light blue. Everything is back to normal now the only thing i dont care for is how all of the ghost shrimp pooh just sits there and its a pain to go in with a turkey baster everyday and clean it all up. Any suggestions would be welcome i was thinking about getting a powerhead to add circulation hopeing that it would pick it up and send it to my filter but I am afraid that will keep my sand kicking up and covering all of my decor.

[Brandon8521]

Some pics I want to Add some taller fake plants to the left side but dont want it to look to crowded. And its easier to clean this way.

[J-P]

well done!

definitely an improvement

You know to stir the sand before water changes no?

[Brandon8521]

I do now thnx.