Beach Sand?

[tetra11]

Is it possible to get some sand from the beach and use it in a freshwater tank as the substrate? Because Im looking to change my substrate from gravel to sand and since I have a beach house I thought it would be easier just to go outside and grab some sand.

[Lady Hobbs]

Beach sand at Home Depot is $7 for 100 pounds and it's clean, no cats have pooped in it, no snails and nothing that would bring stuff to your tank.

[cocoa_pleco]

might have chemicals in it. Its best to buy some from a store

[tetra11]

can you boil sand?

[xoolooxunny]

Beach sand is going to have a lot of salt and crushed shells in it. that will possibly give you a high ph, and salty water!

[tetra11]

yeah but will boiling it and treating it with some fish safe chemicals make it safe?

[Lady Hobbs]

It will only have salt, corals, if you take it from saltwater lakes. Boiling it with salt or corals will not help. If you buy it from Home Depot, it is processed to go in tanks and been cleaned. You will need to rinse it two or three times again before using it tho.

[xoolooxunny]

Boiling will kill off any micro organisms and parasites that might be in the sand, and thorough rinsing with warm water afterwards would remove most of the salts. However, I can't give you a knowledgable answer as to whether or not it would then be safe. There are still pollutants in the ocean that I am unsure if they will be cleaned out by these methods. You might still get a high ph, so maybe think cichlids or something?

(secretly, I think I would try to clean it and use it too)

[tetra11]

i might try getting some from the beach and boiling it to get rid of all those little parasites and clean it as much as I can with fish friend chemicals and just put it in a little 5 gallon tank and by a couple feeder guppies just to see what happens. But if I see it isnt working Ill run by home depot and get some clean sand there.

[tetra11]

I just found this on google:

Sand and rock - Avoid gathering beach sand and stratified rock such as limestone. Both are magnets for organic material. Start with clean, dry sand or smooth aggregate stones, such as granite or marble. Rocks should be cleaned, and then boiled in water for 30 minutes. Sand can be rinsed with large amounts of water to remove any particulate debris. The final rinse should be in water treated with a conditioner to neutralize the chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals. Then heat the sand in an oven at 200-250°F for 30 minutes.

[Chrona]

I just found this on google:

Sand and rock - Avoid gathering beach sand and stratified rock such as limestone. Both are magnets for organic material. Start with clean, dry sand or smooth aggregate stones, such as granite or marble. Rocks should be cleaned, and then boiled in water for 30 minutes. Sand can be rinsed with large amounts of water to remove any particulate debris. The final rinse should be in water treated with a conditioner to neutralize the chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals. Then heat the sand in an oven at 200-250°F for 30 minutes.

Ask yourself, is that worth the hassle?

Sand is cheap at home depot

Beach sand is usually too fine anyways. You want coarser stuff, like 1-2 mm diameter sand, ie pool filter sand.