Thinking about collecting some wild sand today?

[cracker]

I like it !

 

[T Carey]

I went down to Galveston Jetties and picked up a patch of algae of the rocks that was crawling with amphipods and brought it back to my tank in the Dallas area. That was 20 years ago and I still have the amphi population from that trip. I brought back about a 4 in layer of sand from Ft. Walton bay in Fl. many years ago. Had it in a styro fish box taped closed with a battery powered air pump running a stone in the 3 inches of salt water. That worked out fine also.

If I go back to Galveston again I'll be more aggressive about collecting sand, rocks etc.

 

[YumaMan]

Collecting sand and rock on a Florida beach may be illegal.
But collecting small bugs and critters is not (yet) regulated.
So, take a couple of 5 gal buckets, fill one of them with clean sea water and various samples of sand and rocks, stir them up a bit, and leave them for an hour.
Collect sand fleas and catch pompano. Very tasty in caper-lemon-butter sauce.
Then return to your bucket, pour out the water into the empty bucket, and dispose of the sand and rocks.
I'll bet you'll catch lots of different kinds of critters for your tank.
Biodiversity is always risky, however. But that's life.

 

[cracker]

I'm surprised to see all the Folks here at the moment. I didn't make it on the 30th. Such is life but something came up & cancelled my plans !

 

[Sir Chris]

I live in Sarasota and taking from the ocean is a no no. There’s times u can I have 60 mangroves... but taking rock sand or water is a area I prefer to spend a few $ and not have knocking at my door. And I’m 15 mins from siasta key and Lido is about 30 but on bike voted best sand and all diff and always wanted a wild only tank. But I’m cool with paying for it... my 2 cents

 

[SashimiTurtle]

My dad has a house in Cherry Grove, SC and I vacation there often. I've thought of getting a bucket of mud from the flats up there several times. I think I'm going to do it this year and set it up in a 10g tank and just observe for a little while. Might be good to do for a refugium substrate.

 

[kecked]

I hope you never get red tide in your tank

 

[Paul B]

I haven't gotten it yet. But I do sometimes get a red algae. I kind of like it.

 

[DracoKat]

I want to join @Paul B next time he goes collecting. I feel like I could learn a lot!

actually, I want to visit Paul's tank and check it out too.

 

[Paul B]

His tank will be moving to eastern Long Island in a few weeks and may crash on the way. But if it makes it, it will take a few years to start looking good. If it ever does.

I do formal collecting, especialy when I am going for tuxedo urchins.

 

[jtspeedy21]

I have been thinking about collecting some wild sand, but I don't know where to go. I live in the Fort Myers, Florida area. I am concerned about collecting in areas affected by the red tide. Those of you who live in my area and have done this, could you PM me with possible locations where I might collect a large sum of wild sand? I have a 220gal refuge I want at add 8-10 inches of live wild sand.

Thanks
Jtspeedy21

 

[klp]

His tank will be moving to eastern Long Island in a few weeks and may crash on the way. But if it makes it, it will take a few years to start looking good. If it ever does.

I do formal collecting, especialy when I am going for tuxedo urchins.

Bringing style and definition to the wet suit for the best dressed man... First impressions are so important!

 

[Deereefer]

I really don’t think it worth the work or risking adding funky stuff to your tank. I would get some cheato from fellow reefers and add to your sump. This will give you some bacteria and copepods to start.

 

[kecked]

I'm heading to naples but doubt I could bring anything back on a plane. My father tells me the red tide down there is something else right now. It stinks horrible.

 

[Paul B]

I really don’t think it worth the work or risking adding funky stuff to your tank. I would get some cheato from fellow reefers and add to your sump. This will give you some bacteria and copepods to start.

I love funky stuff, the funkier, the better.

 

[chris85]

I love funky stuff, the funkier, the better.

You are a trip Paul.

My suggestion would go by flow in your tank. I use a cut five gallon bucket with various size meshes( window screen material, chicken wire) make it secure with extra strips of the cut bucket. Set it on top of a new bucket and start sifting!! Just pick the size that best fits your flow.

One thing I will say is if you get tiny grain sand make sure you reseed it with a hand full of fresh sand every six months or so for the micro life so the sand doesnt get compacted and go bad.

I will try and get some pictures when I get home of my sand beds and see if I still have my sifter or maybe just make another one if it will help you out.

Let me know if you have any more question I can help you with!?!

 

[cracker]

So You Folks on the Gulf side of Fl are having a Red Tide outbreak? I don't think we get the stuff here on the east coast.

 

[Quinnchero]

Anyone in the San Diego area that has done this? I have always wanted to try it out for a little more bio-diversity but been afraid of using anything around the city itself. Going South of SD proper is a definite no-no with Tijuana and the river dumping into to the nearby areas. So if you live in the area and have done this, where exactly did you pick it up?

 

[Instigate]

Anyone in the San Diego area that has done this? I have always wanted to try it out for a little more bio-diversity but been afraid of using anything around the city itself. Going South of SD proper is a definite no-no with Tijuana and the river dumping into to the nearby areas. So if you live in the area and have done this, where exactly did you pick it up?

I've wondered that too. Would anything in the temperate/sub tropical waters of SoCal survive in our tanks? Bacteria? Pods? Other micro fauna? Larger stuff like crabs and snails I assume would not make it correct?

 

[inthesea]

So You Folks on the Gulf side of Fl are having a Red Sea outbreak? I don't think we get the stuff here on the east coast.

We get Red tide outbreak every now and then here in the panhandle.