Beach sand in freshwater tank?

[rapdor]

The local beaches have very appealing fine almost white sand. Can I take it
home and give it a wash to get the salt out of it and put it in my
freshwater tank?

[Dinky]

"rapdor" > wrote in message
...
> The local beaches have very appealing fine almost white sand. Can I take
it
> home and give it a wash to get the salt out of it and put it in my
> freshwater tank?
>
>

A large portion of the sand is likely crushed shells\coral and will play
hell with your waters hardness as it breaks down. I'd recommend against it.

billy

[Renee]

And in some places, like where I live, it's illegal to remove sand from the
beaches.

Not that people don't do it anyway, I'm just saying that you wouldn't want
to go out in the middle of the day with a couple 5 gal buckets, lol


"rapdor" > wrote in message
...
> The local beaches have very appealing fine almost white sand. Can I take
it
> home and give it a wash to get the salt out of it and put it in my
> freshwater tank?
>
>

[>]

Don't forget the natural inhabitants of the beach. You might not want some
of them in your aquarium.

JOhn :-)

"rapdor" > wrote in message
...
> The local beaches have very appealing fine almost white sand. Can I take
it
> home and give it a wash to get the salt out of it and put it in my
> freshwater tank?
>
>

[Runner]

"rapdor" > wrote in message
...
> The local beaches have very appealing fine almost white sand. Can I take
it
> home and give it a wash to get the salt out of it and put it in my
> freshwater tank?

I would advise against it for three reasons:

1. Most coastal areas are polluted and you wouldn't want that pollution in
your tank.

2. It could have many small, living creatures in it that will die and may
foul your tank.

3. It will harden your water and raise your pH.


The first two are reason it shouldn't be done in sal****er tanks, too.
Sal****er tanks are also in danger of catching a parasite or disease from
beach sand. I have heard reports of some people successfully collecting and
using it for sal****er, though. I wouldn't consider it for freshwater,
though. A $3 50# bag of play sand is the best thing to use.