I give up......

[bboy aqua]

I cant find one stinkin store thats sells white playsand
silica or calcium carbonate
what should I do?
should I just buy the aquarium brand that is like $6 for 5lb?
I need at least 15 lb
I really dont want to buy it but if I must, then I will
anybody got any last ideas on what I should do before I purchase it?

[a4twenty]

it's only $18, you'd probably spend more on gas and time looking for the other stuff.

[pitt_prodigy]

What about Home Depot or Lowes? They usually carry some type of aquarium suitable sand. Good luck.

[Scuba Oz]

You probaly spent more than 20 bucks looking for the substitute sand than just buying the real stuff.

[crumbletop]

You are in oahu. Why not get some sand from the beach?

Jack

[yeame]

20lb bag live sand is only $20-25 with the price of everything that you will put in your tank that is not that expensive

[BMcCoy]

I say get it from the beach!!:D :D

[a4twenty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7577613#post7577613 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BMcCoy
I say get it from the beach!!:D :D

sure why not, just spread it out and let it dry thoroughly in the sun to kill anything that might be living on it.

[bboy aqua]

If i were to get it from the beach,should I get the sand from underwater or the dry sand?

[crumbletop]

I have no clue, really, but if it were me, I'd get some from underwater (I'd guess it has a slightly larger particle size than the stuff that washes up on the beach). Then I'd sterilize it in a 5-gal bucket with clorox + water. Rinse a whole bunch. Then fill the bucket with water and add some seachem prime to get rid of any chlorine left. Then it would be ready to use. The above procedure is exactly what I have done to salvage substrate from a tank I was breaking down.

Jack

[bboy aqua]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7579094#post7579094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crumbletop
I have no clue, really, but if it were me, I'd get some from underwater (I'd guess it has a slightly larger particle size than the stuff that washes up on the beach). Then I'd sterilize it in a 5-gal bucket with clorox + water. Rinse a whole bunch. Then fill the bucket with water and add some seachem prime to get rid of any chlorine left. Then it would be ready to use. The above procedure is exactly what I have done to salvage substrate from a tank I was breaking down.

Jack

is any type of chlorine remover good to use?
or theres something special about seachem prime that I must use that

[demonboy279]

ive used wardley but seachem is probably better i dunno

[crumbletop]

Any kind would probably be fine. I uses seachem prime because that is what I have and it is pretty potent. Whatever you use, make sure you use a lot of it in order to eliminate all the chlorine from the bleach.

Jack

[skeeter_ca]

Ok..... I've heard this before, but why can't he just use the live sand from the ocean? Why sterilize it? Wouldn't the LS have the beneficial bacteria and critters that he would want to establish his tank. If he gets if from a clean area. There can't be that much chance of getting unwanted items. Am i wrong? Does anyone have any experiences using the LS from the ocean. It's not like he's getting it from the cold polluted beaches of Los Angeles, Ca. Were talking Hawaii.

BTW, is it illegal to collect sand in the hawaii islands?

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7580081#post7580081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquadw
Ok..... I've heard this before, but why can't he just use the live sand from the ocean? Why sterilize it?

My personal take is that I like to control what is going into my tank. If I sterilize the sand, then I know what is going in. You surely don't have to, but I have heard of people killing things in their tank because of using unfiltered salt water, etc. When it comes to something as simple as sand, I'd rather sterilize. But like I said before, I don't have a clue -- that's just what I would do.

Jack

[adnup]

BTW, is it illegal to collect sand in the hawaii islands?

I'm pretty sure its illegal here in Florida

[don954]

according to the broward county parks dept (Florida) its not illegal as long as its from the beach, not from the reefs. Take anything from the protected Florida reefs and they will put your but in jail... as they should. One of my tanks is done with 100lbs beach sand and 20lbs argi-alive sand from the LFS. I took the sand from the surf line so i got a large mix of particle sizes.

The only baddies i got was a sea-flea. These can burrow into a fish and eat it from the inside out, but, it was easy to remove by sifting the sand with a colander (which i should have done before putting it in the tank)..

[nodea717]

Get your live sand from Lanikai or Bellows... its legal as long as you take 1 gallon per day. Get it from under water, its good, I have tested it.