Play sand?

[sloburn]

I read somewhere you could do the sand bed using play sand as long as it is a fine sand and could seed it with store bought live sand?

 

[herpencounter]

NO! Play sand is full of silicates that brown diatoms thrive on.

 

[ChrisRD]

Not necessarily.

There are sands available in home improvement and hardware stores that are labeled as "play sand" that are 100% aragonite sand. Basically the same stuff as the hobby brands like CaribSea. Over the years, many, many hobbyists have used this stuff in their reef tanks with no problems (I've done it myself).

I've not looked into this in a while, but Southdown, Yard Right and Old Castle were some example brands of aragonite "play" sand from recent years past. I'm sure there's other comparable products out there these days.

As for using silica sands - I've never tried it, but a lot of hobbyists have done this without issue. Personally I would just stick to aragonite sand.

As for seeding an inert bed of sand with a small amount of live sand - yes that will work (and save you some money).

HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

BTW, Sloburn

:welcome: