should i get some sand/water from the beach?

[Meloco14]

I live a couple blocks from the ocean and have been thinking of going down and collecting some real live sand or some water. I am just hesitant because of pollution. Is it safe to collect some? Or should I just play it safe and not bother? tia

 

[hillbilly]

I would not put water or sand collected near shore in my tanks because of the nasties it may contain.

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree. If you could collect it well offshore that might be a different story...

 

[Anonymous]

Gee, I dunno- the coast near SB is quite nice. Is the water supposed to be clean? If I lived there and I could find a convenient place to do it, I would probably use the water.

Live sand is frequently collected from the wild, and if you get it from a pristine location I think you should be ok. A lot of the organisms wont be adapted to tropical reef tank temperatures, but the bacteria etc will probably do fine.

 

[mikenegue]

how's the water and sand in malibu or santa monica?

 

[ricky1414]

Have you ever seen the water in Santa Monica's bay? let me rephrase that- Have you ever SMELLED the water in Santa Monica? With the constraint of of tiny ecosystems we call hobbies, they would not last long if we used sand or water from our putried ocean's here in SoCal. Ive heard even Catalina's water is contaminated by the water off of our lovely coast.
For example, I will not eat the sea bass i catch outside of Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey, but I will eat the Yellow Tail (you know what I mean, you pervs) that migrates through from Mexico.

 

[Meloco14]

I agree, I grew up in LA and I am an avid fisherman. Most of Santa Monica Bay is pretty bad. I wouldnt trust anything around there. Here in SB it's cleaner, but not that great. Surfers constantly come back with tar all over them and Im sure there is oil residue from the many offshore oil rigs. I was just thinking maybe I could get some sand and let it stand in a bucket with a powerhead or something, let it settle, skim the top water off and maybe use it. It's probably not worth taking a chance though...

 

[ricky1414]

i would rather use southdown sand from osh or home depot. i do not think that you can clean the contaminants out of the sand well enough to prevent some sort of nastiness leaching into your tank's water. it is just not worth it imo.

 

[Anonymous]

I would do it. Thats my final answer. At least then I would know where it came from.