is silica sand really just as good for DSB
- Thread starter Snake Man
- Start date
Silica sand is perfectly safe for a reef. Your tank's glass is silica. Period. The problem is contaminants. I work at a sand and gravel pit and we package blasting sand. It is dried with burnt waste oil. Will this kill everything? Unlikely, but is it worth the gamble? I suppose they use similar methods to dry aragonite.
BTW, I don't understand how "pure" silica can be much worse for your health than "unpure" silica. Even the worst sand has to be close to 90% silica. Thats still a lot of sand to cause silicosis.
My $.02
Matt
BTW, I don't understand how "pure" silica can be much worse for your health than "unpure" silica. Even the worst sand has to be close to 90% silica. Thats still a lot of sand to cause silicosis.
My $.02
Matt
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
Play sand is screened so that what passes through will be discarded... Means they keep a certain size grain and larger. Silicosis is caused by very fine grain silica...(dust)
Masonary sand is sized by grit. This means they keep what is screened and send excess to other processing area's. Only a certain size grain and smaller are kept. This is why OSHA pushes there safety gear so much.
This is why you see sandblasters masons etc... working with masks
If what you say where true. Then all the schools would make there students wear masks on the play ground.... heh!
All the play sands I have seen have very little silica. No where near 90% hence why they are brown in color. Pure silica is not brown it is very white.
Basically its like this..
Silica sand is silica based.
Play sand contains silica.
I would suspect play sand has less than 25%
and thats being very generous....
Play sand would probally not even contain silica if it was not for its abundance on our planet! Think how much they would have to spend in production to remove it.
Play sand is screened so that what passes through will be discarded... Means they keep a certain size grain and larger. Silicosis is caused by very fine grain silica...(dust)
Masonary sand is sized by grit. This means they keep what is screened and send excess to other processing area's. Only a certain size grain and smaller are kept. This is why OSHA pushes there safety gear so much.
This is why you see sandblasters masons etc... working with masks
If what you say where true. Then all the schools would make there students wear masks on the play ground.... heh!
All the play sands I have seen have very little silica. No where near 90% hence why they are brown in color. Pure silica is not brown it is very white.
Basically its like this..
Silica sand is silica based.
Play sand contains silica.
I would suspect play sand has less than 25%
and thats being very generous....
Play sand would probally not even contain silica if it was not for its abundance on our planet! Think how much they would have to spend in production to remove it.
Don't use pool sand! Regardless if silica sand is OK or not, pool sand is a definate not. It is purposely roughened to catch more debri in a filter. This roughness equates to jagged edges that can damage sand fauna and make life in the sand bed more difficult than it has to be.
Don't use silica "play" sand. It is not pure silica by any means. It is illegal to sell pure silica as play sand. Due to respiratory problems it may inflict. Why gamble?
Get a hold of a masonary supply yard. There you will find processed silica sand. This is the only source I know of that is close to pure.
BTW. even SD is not pure argonite. Close but no cigar.
Close to pure silica should be very white! If it is brown then you may want to run some tests on it first.
Also search for 70-100 grit this is less than
.203mm to .122mm in grain size
HTH!!!
Get a hold of a masonary supply yard. There you will find processed silica sand. This is the only source I know of that is close to pure.
BTW. even SD is not pure argonite. Close but no cigar.
Close to pure silica should be very white! If it is brown then you may want to run some tests on it first.
Also search for 70-100 grit this is less than
.203mm to .122mm in grain size
HTH!!!
I've been using generic HD silica sand for about 5 months now. There's no adverse effects that I can see. There are many worms in the sand now and the algae blooms from a new tank have all subsided. There are sponges, squirts, soft coral, as well as fish in the tank. Everything from a tank health perspective is very good. The problem that I have with the sand is that I used it for the DSB and also to make concrete rocks. The silica based rocks don't grow any corraline except where there are shell from the crushed coral sticking out. I would save up and buythe aragonite just so that the coralline would grow better. My unscientific approach makes me think that silica sand works better for the DSB sice it is finer than aragonite. Just my observations.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mabu:
<STRONG>I will never add silica sand to a tank of mine again. Unless of course you need something to wrap your sushi in. I'd like to see someone endorse it after 6mos+ in their tank.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Alright here i am endorsing it after 6+ months in my tank...over a year infact. I've had no problems from it and just looking at it you can see that it is a working DSB. It's populated by loads of worms also.
<STRONG>I will never add silica sand to a tank of mine again. Unless of course you need something to wrap your sushi in. I'd like to see someone endorse it after 6mos+ in their tank.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Alright here i am endorsing it after 6+ months in my tank...over a year infact. I've had no problems from it and just looking at it you can see that it is a working DSB. It's populated by loads of worms also.
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