what sand to use

[curtisd]

I'm setting up a 180 gal and wondering if i can use play sand as a base with live sand over it? every where ive looked its about 50/50 saying to use it and others saying not to use it? thanks curtis

[Blown 346]

Playsand as far as for sand boxes, I would highly suggest against that.

You can go to Home depot etc and get Old Castle sand. Just rinse it really well to get rid of the dust.

Dont waste your money on livesand as it is a waste. Liverock will provide plenty of life in the sand.

[popimp06]

rock town in da house. agronite is the right sand

[SuperNerd]

2nd Aragonite. Got a link to oldcastle?

[troybob333]

I thought they stopped making oldcastle a while ago.

[cristhiam]

I use playsand from Lowes, totally fine.

[gotboostedvr6]

aragonite is good stuff

[staticx]

I got 100lbd bag of whit sand from home depot and then jsut mixed it with some carrib sea arrgonite and its looking real good. I second the live sand is a waste of money.

[Randall_James]

[welcome]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=803688 (pinned top of this forum)

[curtisd]

so old castle do you mean paving sand? what is the difference between that and play sand?....ive been told not to waste my money on live sand just use live rock....

[Randall_James]

Tropical Play Sand is what you are looking for. However, you can just get plain old silica sand and be "almost" as well off. I prefer aragonite just because it is less likely to scratch a tank than silica sands.

[curtisd]

should i mix in live sand too or would live rock be enough to get it going?

[cristhiam]

I would just get couple of #s of LS from a reefer or LFS.

[Randall_James]

"good" live rock should suffice but if you had access to decent live sand I would sure look at getting a pound or 2 of it. The stuff you find at the stores is "ok" but IMO not worth the money. I would rather hand bills reef the money and get a few pounds there.

[curtisd]

sweet thank you all for the help..