Silica Or Aragonite? Tests to determine which?

[Arthur Curry]

My ex-girlfriend brought me a large cooler full of sand, shells, and rocks from the North Carolina, South Carolina shore. The rocks are cool but the sand seems too smooth, it dosent feel the same as the sand thats already in my tank. Is there a way to determine if its silica, I'd rather use all aragonite in my tanks.....(So thoughtful, a woman doing something for me for my tanks dont remember why shes an ex????) :love2:

[KafudaFish]

You can add vinegar to see if it bubbles but doubtful if any sand from that area is Ca based.

[disc1]

+1 to vinegar. If it's calcium carbonate it will fizz.

[Beaun]

I used local sand for a while and really liked it. Sand from the beach, if it has any substantial ammount of silica is usually inert, fresh playsand can be a differnt story. Another worry to think about is how fine is it, I know in those areas that the sand can be very fine and will end up being a dust storm.

[Arthur Curry]

Yeah it is very fine. But the sand in my current display is fine. I think I have mastered the art of place outputs with sugar fine sand in the display........ I just bought a new sump and was going to use the sand in the refugium part of the sump........