Beach sand
- Thread starter SaltAddict89
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tyler1503
2500 Club Member
Sure can 
Everyone will be like "no, it's silica sand. You want aragonite. Silica based sand will give you algae". But the people who say that have probably never used beach sand and are just recycling info they read elsewhere.
I use it exclusively and have never had an issue that I can blame on the sand.
You just have to wash it really well. Wash it once, wash it again, wash it once more. Then, wash it again. Now that you think it's really clean, one more wash is necessary! I'm not exaggerating either. You really need to wash it that much!
Everyone will be like "no, it's silica sand. You want aragonite. Silica based sand will give you algae". But the people who say that have probably never used beach sand and are just recycling info they read elsewhere. I use it exclusively and have never had an issue that I can blame on the sand.
You just have to wash it really well. Wash it once, wash it again, wash it once more. Then, wash it again. Now that you think it's really clean, one more wash is necessary! I'm not exaggerating either. You really need to wash it that much!
Rinse the sand really well before using it.
betelgeuse
Active Member
Im pretty sure it is illegal to remove sand from the beach the way you are talking about.
After rinsing the sand be sure to let it dry out, drying will kill anything the freshwater won't.
Mr. Microscope
Active Member
I wouldn't put any sand from a Groton beach in my tank. Maybe something further south like FL.
(I almost moved to Groton recently, Pfizer couldn't offer me the right package.)
(I almost moved to Groton recently, Pfizer couldn't offer me the right package.)
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DaveMorris
MACNA2016 Co-Chair
I don't know about the Northeast, but here in Southern California it is illegal to collect anything from the beach, including the beach itself.
hawkinsrgk
Valuable Member
If you end up doing it let us know how it turns out. I thought about doing this myself but backed out
It completely depends on where the sand comes from. In many places it would be dirty, polluted or too high in certain minerals. You want sand from a beach with carbonate sand, this is the sand that is usually bright white to off white in color, typically tropical. Silica sand is typically not pure silica, in fact you can often tell very nearly the beach sand came from just from analyzing it - this speaks to the inherent risk of just picking up random sand. My sand is know is safe as it came directly from the beach and was almost entirely aragonite based.
