beach sand in a saltwater tank

[Mikesilverado8888]

can you use beach sand in a saltwater tank if boil it and bleach it will that make it safe

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[Neon Reefer]

I guess you could but I would question the purity of it if it is coming from a beach here in the states. You know they truck that sand in a lot of times and who knows what kind of sand it is or where it comes from or what impurities it has in it to leach back into your tank water. I think reef grade sand is pretty cheap when you buy it dry, so I wouldn't even consider it.

Now if it is sand from a vacation in Fiji or some other pristine beach, then that's another story. HA! Just IMHO.

[Timfish]

I would just rinse it out really well in tap water then spread it out on a table and let it dry in the sun for several days

[+brian.srock]

Risk vs Reward is too great. Sand is so cheap at $35 for a 40lb bag just do it right from the start.

[Bpb]

Wide variety of opinions here.

My take:

I like to minimize mysteries in my tank. Using a self collected sample of Sandbed from a beach where you really have no idea what's in it adds a massive mystery to your tank. Some people pull it off, but others don't. Same line of reasoning as tap water vs rodi. Sure it CAN be done and is done here and there. But if things start to go south with your tank, or flat out never even seem to come together to begin with, it's best to diagnose the problem knowing as well as you can everything that goes into your tank. I vote dry sand, dry rock, and rodi water. Just less chance of mistakes

[jestep]

Because most of the sand in the US is silica and not argonite I wouldn't use it for that reason alone.

[Mikesilverado8888]

I think the bad out does the good so it's a no go

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[Mikesilverado8888]

Bpb what's rodi water is that RO water

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[Bpb]

Not exactly. Some people may abbreviate it casually as RO when they mean RODI. RO water would indicate Reverse Osmosis ONLY. Meaning its a 3 stage filter process which runs Sediment filter -> carbon filter -> RO membrane. This will yield anywhere between 90-99% dissolved and suspended solid rejection from the tap water, but can leave behind several ppm of things in the water that will largely be a mystery. RODI is the same as an RO filter, only with an additional stage added after the RO membrane, which is the DI resin, or de-ionization, which will usually remove the remaining measurable dissolved ions in the water, effectively bringing your water down to zero TDS.

[Mikesilverado8888]

So where do you get rodi

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[Bpb]

Honestly, once in a blue moon you run across someone who buys it from the store, but 99% of us make our own by purchasing an RODI filter and hooking it up at home. With the cost of store bought filtered water vs the cost of making your own RODI water, you'll easily break even within a year on just about any tank size.

http://spectrapure.com/RO-RODI/RODI-SYSTEMS

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-4-stage-value-plus-ro-di-system-75gpd-1.html

Some people on here are strong tapwater advocates and will show you lots of tap water tanks theyve run, and that's fine if you choose to go that direction, but the majority of people like the control over water that an RODI filter provides. This is one of those pieces of equipment that if my house burned down and I was fortunate enough to get to rebuild it and start over in the hobby, I'd buy an RODI filter before I even considered buying a tank to be honest.