Different type of play sand for sand bottom

cvrle1 · Sep 14, 2018

When I had my old aquarium going 10 years ago, I used play sand for my DSB. I know, I know, it is full of silica, shouldnt be used and so on, but I still did it, and it worked out more or less well for 3 years that I had tank up and running. I know I wasnt the only one, as I read from others back then that they used it as well with good results (depending how you classify good haha)

Since I am slowly planning a bigger build, I was looking around for possible different alternatives to aragonite sand for sea bed. This time I will definitely not use silica play sand, but it got me looking more into play sands in general. Stumbled on the company called Sandtastik that has white play sand, that contains no silica, no quartz, no asbestos and is certified as non toxic.

Main reason why play sand was frowned upon was because of silica, but if it is truly silica free, could this be good and cheaper alternative to aragonite? 100lb bag goes for $80 (from official site). 25lbs bag goes for a bit more than $16 (Walmart of all places)

Price for aragonite looks to be about $1 a lbs, so this is definitely cheaper.

https://www.sandtastik.com/100-sand/101-white-play-sand
https://www.amazon.com/SANDTASTIK-WHITE-PLAY-SAND-25LB/dp/B077GMCSKN
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sandtastik-White-Play-Sand/17452676

starypotter · Sep 14, 2018

You can get CaribSea sand from petco for $4-5 for a 10 pound bag.
I also looked into that sand for my hamsters so they could take sand baths. That sand isn't even safe to use in children's sandboxes, it has carcinogens in it, I certainly wouldn't put it anywhere near my tank, I use the CaribSea for my hamsters litter boxes and in my tanks.

Larry L · Sep 14, 2018

You should look into pool filter sand, tons of freshwater folks use it and some saltwater folks too.

lagatbezan · Sep 14, 2018

cvrle1 said:
When I had my old aquarium going 10 years ago, I used play sand for my DSB. I know, I know, it is full of silica, shouldnt be used and so on, but I still did it, and it worked out more or less well for 3 years that I had tank up and running. I know I wasnt the only one, as I read from others back then that they used it as well with good results (depending how you classify good haha)

Since I am slowly planning a bigger build, I was looking around for possible different alternatives to aragonite sand for sea bed. This time I will definitely not use silica play sand, but it got me looking more into play sands in general. Stumbled on the company called Sandtastik that has white play sand, that contains no silica, no quartz, no asbestos and is certified as non toxic.

Main reason why play sand was frowned upon was because of silica, but if it is truly silica free, could this be good and cheaper alternative to aragonite? 100lb bag goes for $80 (from official site). 25lbs bag goes for a bit more than $16 (Walmart of all places)

Price for aragonite looks to be about $1 a lbs, so this is definitely cheaper.

https://www.sandtastik.com/100-sand/101-white-play-sand
https://www.amazon.com/SANDTASTIK-WHITE-PLAY-SAND-25LB/dp/B077GMCSKN
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sandtastik-White-Play-Sand/17452676

I was looking at that sand 3 years ago when I was setting up my 300g but decided against it. The grains look too small which will make them fly around in your tank with moderate circulation. I ended up going with what @starypotter suggested and got caribsea and I love it. I think I paid about $20 or so for a 40lb bag at a lfs.
Years ago (about 12 years or so) when I setup my 180 I got white play sand made by old castle from homedepot which was pure araganitr with no silica for $8 for a 50lb bag but unfortunately that's no where to be found anymore.

User1 · Sep 14, 2018

Southdown days are long....long gone. Great sand and super awesome sauce affordable. Only issue was that it was fine. I mean really super fly fine. So blew around a lot but has everything matures it works itself out. Great stuff which I used has a DSB in my 100 gallon back in 1999. Haven't really looked at HD or other places for something similar and I don't recall the interweb buzzing with similar chatter has Soutdown.

On my 210 I recently set up I just hit up BRS and paid the piper.

cvrle1 · Sep 14, 2018

starypotter said:
You can get CaribSea sand from petco for $4-5 for a 10 pound bag.
I also looked into that sand for my hamsters so they could take sand baths. That sand isn't even safe to use in children's sandboxes, it has carcinogens in it, I certainly wouldn't put it anywhere near my tank, I use the CaribSea for my hamsters litter boxes and in my tanks.

Interesting about carcinogens, as their website claims differently:
Sandtastik sand is made from the feldspar family of rock which does not contain any carcinogens. It is 100% pure safe sand.

Where did you find info that this sand contains carcinogens? Not saying you are wrong, but curious to see.

I do however know that other play sands contain carcinogens, stuff like silica play sand that you can buy in HD for example.

starypotter · Sep 14, 2018

cvrle1 said:
Interesting about carcinogens, as their website claims differently:
Sandtastik sand is made from the feldspar family of rock which does not contain any carcinogens. It is 100% pure safe sand.

Where did you find info that this sand contains carcinogens? Not saying you are wrong, but curious to see.

I do however know that other play sands contain carcinogens, stuff like silica play sand that you can buy in HD for example.

I did a lot of research on it about 6 months back or so, finding all the different play sands and looking up the ingredients. I don't exactly have a list of sources, but when the first dozen responses are a kin to those mesothelioma commercials I'm walking away and fast. Even sands that claimed to be safe for children's sandboxes still contained carcinogenic elements when you read the packages properly. It didn't exactly plaster it about online but when you look up all of the different things in the sand itself if it's listed you get the answers you need. If there's so much as a doubt about what's in the sand I'm putting in my pet's habitat I'm going to move on to an alternative that's known to be safe. I guess it's just up to you if the price outweighs the mystery. Petco has it for $.50 a pound and I've seen other sources online have it cheap as well there was a website that sold dry rock and sand really cheap I don't recall what it was though.