i have this 55 gal reef tank set up and alot of the base rock and all the sand is str8 form the beach sinc i live 5 min away, in FTL LAUDERDALE FL. can beach sand be bad for a tank?? i have had no problems but my two friends each just set up tanks like a month ago and there ammomnia is still high and nirtrites are up. i think its stll cycling but they went to a pet stroe and i think they got some bogus advice from a guy there. he said sand from a beach is toxic to tank, it has "some sort of bateria that will make the ammonia always be high". i think its BS, anyone have some comments? alotta my stuff comes from t the beach, rocks sand, polyp corals starfish, cucumbers, numerous fish. i have not been able to keep a fish in a hile except for my PJ cardinal but that is cuz of an Ich infestatio which i have pevious posts on.
is natural sand from beaches bad?
- Thread starter blackthunda77
- Start date
I got 1/3 of the sand from the dune (fine sand) 1/3 from the beach (live sand) and 1/3 larger fragments average .2-.5 cm shells from the beach at my back yard (Corpus Christi Bay). The life density of the Corpus Christi bay and the Gulf of Mexico is great. We eat fishes from here so I don't think the idea that these water is full of toxic waste hold any water. I am sure there these water maybe higher in Nitrogenous wastes from fertilizer run off. Nothing my tank tank can't handle one time. My tank is doing great and the corals is growing very fast (SPS and Clams) three months after set-up. I am sure it will be dong very well several years from now.
I am sure many LFS will tell you that these sand are bad so they can sell you 2 dolars per pound of some other sand.
Minh
I am sure many LFS will tell you that these sand are bad so they can sell you 2 dolars per pound of some other sand.
Minh
BTW Minh Nguyen, awesome tank.blackthunda77":bsfjntwe said:
I'm not a biochem major, but given that you cannot avoid having ammonia-consuming bacteria in your tank, and also that an empty tank has almost no ammonia-producing organisms in it (fish, etc.), the LFS is talking BS. Ammonia would not stay high on its own. What do your friends have for live rock, how "live" is the sand? What about test kits.
Bad sand from the ocean near you is hooey. As long as it is not at the edge of the beach or near roadways or industrial zones, the sand should be fine. Just dig a little and look for pods and the like. There's some guy on Long Island,NY who collected his sand off the beaches here(he also uses bottles he finds as well). I found numerous pods in the sand in Ft Lauderdale when I was there. If the pods can live there it will be fine for your tank.
Just sift through the sand for pieces of metal or other things that may contaminate the tank.
Just sift through the sand for pieces of metal or other things that may contaminate the tank.
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