Live sand ?

[Bluetangclan]

I live on the GA coast and have access to the ocean and a boat. How smart of an idea would it be to go out a mile or two from shore and get some sand from the bottom? I have no source of southdown here and livesand prices are atrocious. If I let just the sand sit in a running tank for a week or two would that be enough time for any parasites to die off before adding in LR?

 

[Anonymous]

Why not? The sand you buy is collected, right? I don't know about letting stuff die off, though- I would want to preserve as much life as possible.

Cool handle, btw...

 

[Bluetangclan]

I didnt intend on things dying besides like parasites. One thing they say here is do not put local wildlife in a tank because the parasites are so bad. My friend at the local Marine Institute said they typically quarentine captured wildlife for several weeks before placing them in with anything else. just wondered if anyone else had any input.

 

[Tankless in Dubai]

I live off of the Arabian Gulf. I could conceivably collect wild sand. I see the only other alternative as shipping live sand via Fed Ex across the world.

How would on go about it? Just take a five-gallon bucket and scoop?

Would I have to go through and remove anything, or is everything beneficial?

When I put this live collected sand into my tank, would there be die-off because some creatures would be trapped on the bottom?

Curious to know more about live sand collection.

Thanks 8)

 

[conundrum]

Correct me if I am wrong but, the sand I use in my tank is crushed aragonite (coral), not silica sand. Unless you have coral reefs offshore, chances are it is silica, I have read many smarter people explain some dangers of using it, not to mention the loss of surface area. As for the quarantine, I think it is more for larger animals. I used to collect from the gulf of calif, off mexico till they banned all marine collection. It was a great way to get snails, hermits, brittle stars, gobys, etc. I got my first tank going with a gallon jug of gravel/sand, it had all kinds of critters. I collected in tide pools. And tankless, treat it like a fish and there wont be a lot of die off. Also, don't worry about the critters on the bottom, they move thru sand quite well, keep the sand submerged for transport.

 

[Bluetangclan]

One thing I have heard was to use a screen to filter out any of the bigger critters and stuff I dont want. Is there a problem with silica sand?

 

[conundrum]

Is there a problem with silica sand?
I can't locate some of the reports about possible high silica levels from leaching in a closed tank system, been a year or so. Consider the loss of buffering and reduced surface area if you only used silica sand. I don't see the harm in a few pounds to get live critters that probably die off in the weeks or months the commercial stuff sits on the shelf. That's a good trade by me. There is some debate going on about grain shape/sharp edge injury possible, but most of the beaches/ocean floor is silica sand and things do well enough.

 

[SAT]

Is there a problem with silica sand?

The arguments against silica sand are:
(a) No buffering. In practice, aragonite doesn't contribute significantly to buffering or maintaining calcium levels unless the pH drops below about 7.5, so that's not a strong argument. Aragonite will tend to stabilize the pH deep in a sand bed, but it's not clear whether that matters.

(b) Release of silicates. Silica sand will release some silicates, although the quantity is probably not great. The effects of that are to encourage growth of organisims the require silica, such as diatoms and some sponges. IMO, diatoms are among the least troublesome of the "problem" algae species and I prefer to use other methods to control it. Some people actually dose silicate to encourage sponges.

(c) Sharpness. Silica sand is hard and can have sharp edges, which can easily scratch your glass and, anecdotally, may discourage some sandbed animals.

I prefer aragonite, but silica is a reasonable substitute if aragonite isn't available. Plenty of people use silica sand in reef systems without any trouble.

 

[SPC]

I think the most important thing that Bluetang must consider about the 'live" sand is the temperature issue. The critters that you will find in the waters off our Ga coast are not used to the tropical temperatures that we keep our reefs at and will most likely die.
Steve