Switching substrate for GSP (what sand do I buy?)

greenspottedlover · Post by **greenspottedlover** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:16 pm

What type of sand should I buy. Would buying a cheap playsand be as good as something like this... http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2753226

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:04 pm

I prefer pool filter sand over playsand

goby1kenobi · Post by **goby1kenobi** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:37 pm

There *are* play sands that are made from the aragonite sand... look for Southdown.
But I suspect that, since Southdown comes from the southeast US, that it'll be hard to find in Vermont. You're more likely to find a silica sand or quartz sand.

I.Puff.Too · Post by **I.Puff.Too** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:44 pm

I'd suggest getting play sand OR pool filter sand and mixing it with some aragonite...

Black Widow · Post by **Black Widow** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:53 pm

IMO nothing is better than Aragonite or Coral Sand for high end brackish to marine tanks, as it looks much more natural and the sand naturally buffers the PH of your water to around 8.0 - 8.2 the optimum PH range for any marine environment. Any other crappy sand like playsand or so regardless the fact it may look nice might leech certain chemicals into your water as you dont know what they add to playsand and such...

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:22 pm

I will say that it depends on the company that bags the play sand. I got a 50 lb bag of awesome beautiful sand, only about 4 dollars, and bought a different brand of horrible caca sand that upon rinsing, produced a horrible orange froth like skim mate. So, yeah, that did not go in anything.

weidjd · Post by **weidjd** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:26 pm

I use south down if you can find that.

greenspottedlover · Post by **greenspottedlover** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:53 pm

sevenyearnight wrote:I will say that it depends on the company that bags the play sand. I got a 50 lb bag of awesome beautiful sand, only about 4 dollars, and bought a different brand of horrible caca sand that upon rinsing, produced a horrible orange froth like skim mate. So, yeah, that did not go in anything.

I think I'll go with aragonite sand.

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Switching substrate for GSP (what sand do I buy?)

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