Sand from beach

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Wolf89

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can I collect sand from the beach for my tank? Atlantic beach, NC. Should I maybe bake it in oven to kill any pests? Thoughts?
 
You can. I would get the dry stuff. Rinse it a few times.
 
The sand is like a giant skimmer. Rinse it and dry in sun and it will be fine however.
 
Give it a good bleach soak, drain, soak in clean water with a bunch of conditioner/chlorine neutralizer, rinse. I'm sure it will be fine. *shrug* All the sand we buy starts out filthy, and gets treated one way or another.
 
A long time ago, I used beach sand from below the low tide line. It had tons of life. I had no problems, but this was basically a FOWLR with wild caught livestock. I wasn't risking any expensive fish or corals.

Personally, if you are going to kill it you might as well just buy sand from the lfs.
 
I have beach sand from the gulf coast in my tank. I washed it very well. Looks awesome. Florida gulf coast sand is white quartz. Anyone have any issues with silica sand
 
can I collect sand from the beach for my tank? Atlantic beach, NC. Should I maybe bake it in oven to kill any pests? Thoughts?

I go to Atlantic beach quite often, idk if that’s your best bet.
 
If it's like the sand in coastal Georgia, it's probably way too fine. Ours packs down tight when its wet and is quite hard.

I guess the upside might be that you could crank up your flow without it blowing around as bad
 
Beach sand
 

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I have used beach sand in all my tanks. Freshwater and Marine. Marine I used only beach sand, freshwater I mixed pool filter sand with the beach sand.
It saves you cash, but it certainly does not save you time.
I would fill half a bucket with the sand, and then pour boiling water over it. and stir. After that I would sit there rinsing and swirling until the water was clear, and then I would do the next bucket. Each bucket I had to do 6 or 7 times.

I just wanted it for the look, but I wouldn't do it again haha.

It was Dubai beach sand if that means anything.
 
Dubai beaches. Are crushed coral and shell. I can see using that. This is a big difference from my quartz beach sand. I think anyone would use that.
 
Love the look of the finer sand. Is this something that could be used if you have sand shifters still? I have a small tank, so I don't think it would take many buckets to cover the bottom.
 
I have just got back into this hobby after 30 years. It sure has changed. I like the look of the beach sand. It is quartz. That would b silica. I was told not to use it. But have seen people use play sand in beautiful reef tanks. I’m trying to use common sense. I got my sand on Florida gulf coast. There are sand sifters present there. So I assume it’s ok.
 

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