home depot sand

david1 · Jul 1, 2012

ok so looking to set up my 110 thank so i was thinking of using the sand from home depot i no that not a good idea because it has silica what do u guys think

Lateral72 · Jul 1, 2012

I had some in my 125 FOLWR that was a budget build, STAY AWAY!

1) It's *****.. It looks very yellow-ish brown when it's in the tank.
2) Algae, lots of it
3) It'll scratch the glass very easily

steamer51 · Jul 1, 2012

Apparently the silica has sharp edges and the members of your CUC that sift and clean it will not colonize there according to a member in our club.

BarbH · Jul 1, 2012

As others have said I would stay away from play sand. The silica can cause you issues with algae. I would look at getting some aragonite sand for the tank.

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robert · Jul 1, 2012

The silica is not soluble, so that's not really the issue. I have also heard that the sand is sharp and may bother the clean up crew - but I'm skeptical on this one as well.
The best reason to go with the aragonite sand is its buffering potential and ability to bind phosphate, particularly in deeper areas of the sandbed.

Young Frankenstein · Jul 1, 2012

Sand is very important, get aragonite...........you will invest so much in that aquarium, its just not worth it, go for the thicker aragonite

david1 · Jul 1, 2012

its just going to be a fish only tank

Henry C · Jul 1, 2012

I had it in my tank, looked nice at first. I started having algae issues on the sand bed that moved onto the rocks. I have since then removed 99% of it and the algae is now gone off of my rocks as well. I was even siphoning it out and replacing it with new sand and it would look good for a few weeks then it would start to yellow and then I would get the algae back. JME!!!!

cparka23 · Jul 2, 2012

Wow, nobody? I used Home Depot sand with terrific success for a 120 gallon tank that ran for about 5 years. The point is that you have to get a brand that doesn't use silica, obviously. Just picking any bag of sand is likely going to have silica.

Southdown was the brand I used in two different tanks with no issues. Supposedly the brand changed names and was available regionally. I wish I could point you in the right direction, but I haven't used sugar-sized sand in years.