Question: River sand??

[nzgirl87]

I want to change from large stones to sand and i was wondering if river sand is ok to use?? how to clean it?? and i would sift it to make sure there weren't any large bits in of course!

i just noticed when i was at the river the other day that there is so much and im sure noone will miss a bucket full

i was looking into buying silica sand but due to the time of year funds are low! and stones are hard to keep clean!...river sand is free

any suggestions would be great thanks!

 

[Jennewt]

It's quite likely to be safe, but nobody can guarantee that. Do you have any idea what kind of rock it came from? If you use it, you'll need to do some work to prepare it. First, put it in a tall bucket and swirl it around with a hose while running water in. Keep rinsing and mixing (possibly for a long time) until it rinses completely clean. You'll need to strain it somehow to remove larger pieces. Then I'd recommend boiling it to kill any micro-organisms that are being brought along.

It would be a good idea to monitor the tank pH after adding it, just in case it turns out to have a lot of limestone in it.