Water Hardness,pH and beach sand

[heather]

My axo tank has real beach sand in it

(i know, everyone says its a no-no but i washed it for hours, and nuked the germies it via the oven)

the water-guru at the local aquarium store said that it was a big no-no. he said that it will make my water really hard and raise the pH to a dangerous level...
in my area though, i have very soft water and (rumor has it) slightly acidic, which is supposedly bad for axies-

my axies have been uber healthy and gorgeous looking since I started with real beach sand, could the sand and my water be balancing out??

 

[alex]

i doubt it. unless the sand contains bits of limestone or something like that its unlikely the sand would raise the ph that much. baking and boiling the sand would of killed the parasites and any other nasties. i think that beach sand still isnt the beach because it would have random bits of wood and dirty stuff like that in it. how long have you had the beach sand in there?. have the water paremeters changed at all since you put it in??.

 

[sharn]

beach sand contains bits of broken up shells (obviously lol) which contain calcium, hence hardening the water... test your tap hardness and test your tank hardness... is there any difference?

 

[joan]

I would test your tank water. It's probably a bit harder, and a bit less acidic, but I doubt it's anything that's going to harm your axolotls.

 

[jennifer]

I would test both the pH and hardness on a regular basis. You can buy test kits for both. If they stay within reason, your sand is no problem. If you are doing the usual recommended water changes, that should keep the shells from being a problem, but it depends on your local water chemistry and how much sand/shells are in there. Best to do the testing and have the peace of mind of knowing it's OK.

 

[dane]

I live next to the beach and i could not trust putting it in my tank because you can never realy know.