A sand question

[Spartacus]

Hey everybody!

So I know nothing about sand. Where I live doesnt have any pretty coloured tank sands near enough to me that I can afford. Shipping and pricing is high for good stuff.
The only sand available isn't even yellow
Its a grey, dirty kind of colour, used in sandpits for kids but very fine. All the package says is "good for mortar and ~something else~".
Do you think this would be suitable? I wish I knew more. I just want some tank-friendly sand

 

[melfly]

If its childrens play sand then it should be fine. I use play sand in my tank its a yellowy beigey colour mine. Just make sure to rinse it plenty. And that means when you think you've rinsed it enough, do it a few more times. And dont have the sand too deep, half an inch will do. Mel

 

[Spartacus]

Thanks for that, Ive wanted to give sand a try for so long. Ive always been confused about how thick to put it too cause I swear sometimes people say more than an inch and some say less. Thanks again

 

[Jan]

Hey everybody!

So I know nothing about sand. Where I live doesnt have any pretty coloured tank sands near enough to me that I can afford. Shipping and pricing is high for good stuff.
The only sand available isn't even yellow
Its a grey, dirty kind of colour, used in sandpits for kids but very fine. All the package says is "good for mortar and ~something else~".
Do you think this would be suitable? I wish I knew more. I just want some tank-friendly sand

View this article from Caudata Culture for the recommended types of sand:

Caudata Culture Articles - Aquarium Substrates

 

[Kiwi303]

Hey Sparticus, If you head to your nearest Firth Concrete place (in the phone book) and ask, they should have fine white silica sand, usually packaged as mortar sand, less commonly as grouting or glass sand.

That stuff is a fine graded and washed .2 to .5mm craft sand that looks like slightly off white beige sugar.

Don't get the general concrete sand, thats the grey play sand you mentioned, the white sand is finer and looks nicer, Also if you check the article linked in the previous post, it mentions checking sand for magnetite. General river and beach NZ Sands like those sold as play sand and concrete sand tend to be high in magnetite, especially west coast of both islands. West coast black sands are actually far richer in iron than most iron ore bearing rocks around the world hence the Glenbrook ironsand mill and shipping thousands of tons of refined sand to japan to the steel mills there

 

[Spartacus]

I wish Id seen your message before I went out today. How much is the white silica sand?
I bought some crappy sand today, it was only $7 and I checked it with a magnet, all seems fine.
Ive washed it all out but if I can get to the Firth place and afford better sand, Id rather do that!
Thanks!

 

[emeraldd]

I put mine in a bucket & sprayed it with a hose, full-blast style, then let it sit for a few hours. I did that about 8 times & when I put it in my tank it was all greeny-yellow, from the sand i guess. But i left it & had the filter on high & it went away.
Just saying in case it happens to you :]

 

[Kiwi303]

It's not expensive for what it is, I think it was about $15 for a 10Kg sack, But it's been 4 years since I last bought some since I left the place where I'd go buy it for work. Your $7 sack was probably 20Kg and fairly damp?

Most concrete grade sands are washed and have a high turnover so the bags never really sit long enough to dry in the center. There were sand quarries around where I used to live so I'm fairly familiar with the most common way of grading sand, here in NZ which is to dump loads of sand in a agitator vat with lots of water and pump the slurry over graded screens. This leaves a wet sand at the end of the process and clean enough for commercial purposed that gets sold as "Washed" sand.

Any of the silica sand left over from your tank makes good fine media blasting sand for your sandblasting jobs

 

[Spartacus]

Everybody here is so helpful

If you've ever been to Oreti Beach, thats exactly what my sand is like.
Pretty ugly but cooler than no sand. I'll definitely be checking out the Firth place in my city, cause I'd love some nice looking stuff but I've had no idea where to look. I set some up in a smaller empty tank I have as practice, it looks good.

Does anyone know a way to tell if its been taken from a salty water location?
I get the feeling it may have been taken from the beach, so can I check it anyway?

 

[Kiwi303]

Does anyone know a way to tell if its been taken from a salty water location?
I get the feeling it may have been taken from the beach, so can I check it anyway?

Lick it salt water sand tastes salty

It obviously pays to wash your sand yourself first from what I have read on here and elsewhere, I'm not personally familiar with sand as a tank substrate, just with sand as sand but washing it is easy, a bucket, a stick and a tap with good pressure 4" of sand in the bottom of a 20 litre pail and hose water in until it's over flowing, stir the sand vigorously and let the overflowing water carry off the light **** leaving just the heavy sand. how high a hose pressure used and how hard you stir will obviously impact on how much the sand rises and how much gets washed over with the water, You don't want to be so busy that ALL the sand disappears over the edge of the bucket, but you don;t want to be so wishy washy all the dust doesn't get washed away either... It's up to you to find the happy medium

Pour off the water from the bucket and tip the sand somewhere and repeat until you have enough sand to cover the bottom of the tank a cm or two. This would obviously take all the salt away as well, so river vs beach vs quarry sand makes no difference really.

Reading the tank substrate articles, keep it under an inch thick on the bottom and don't build hills or landscaped mounds, and you'll be sweet as.

 

[Spartacus]

Haha I did lick it, but I felt like maybe I was just being a fool.
Both the sand and the water dont taste salty and I spent a good few hours getting sunburnt outside to wash it all out, good and proper. I really hope my boys like it ^^